


Total Drama: Walking Dead

by blaszczu2500



Category: The Walking Dead (TV), Total Drama (Cartoon)
Genre: Apocalypse, Character Death, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Crossover, Enemies to Friends, F/M, My english sucks, Prison (Walking Dead), The Greene Farm (Walking Dead), Woodbury (Walking Dead), Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-30
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:47:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 31
Words: 244,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23400967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blaszczu2500/pseuds/blaszczu2500
Summary: On the way to the plane from Total Drama World Tour, a bus with it's contestants and hosts crashes in the middle of the forest, which is only a start of a new way of life. A life that is about survival, at any cost.( I suck at summaries)
Relationships: Bridgette/Geoff (Total Drama), Courtney/Duncan (Total Drama), Izzy/Owen (Total Drama), Leshawna/Harold Norbert Cheever Doris McGrady V, Lindsay/Tyler (Total Drama), Lori Grimes/Rick Grimes, Maggie Greene/Glenn Rhee
Comments: 59
Kudos: 19





	1. Chapter 1

**I don't own Total Drama and The Walking Dead. I only own my OC's.**

**Sorry if you find any grammar mistakes. I'm still learning English because it's not my first language.**

**The virus started when the characters were on their way to the plane from Total Drama World Tour, so the cast from this season, including Chris and Chef are in Atlanta's camp. As for the other characters that weren't competing in season** **3, like Geoff, or Justin or Trent, they're going to appear sooner or later.**

**As for the characters from others seasons, we may see them or not, haven't decided, yet.**

* * *

An RV was driving along a forested road. A grinning face of the reality show host Chris McLean was painted on the sides of the RV as it was taking the people inside of it to the aiport where a plane was waiting for them. Speaking of the people inside of the RV, there were 17 seventeen year olds competing in Total Drama World Tour, each of them minding their own business.

In the driver seats in front of the RV were host and co-host, Chris McLean and Chef Hatchet, driving the RV in the direction of the airport, well the latter one was the one doing the driving as Chris simply looking at the road through the front window. The two were driving in silence, listening to the radio that was mostly speaking about one thing, it was something about sick people, or something like that.

"Uh, I can't listen to this." The host said, turning the radio off, "How long do you think it'll be until we reach the aiport, Chef?"

"Should take us another three or four hours." Chef answered.

"Cool." Chris said, pulling out his hand-held mirror, looking at his reflection in it, "This is going to be the best season."

Chef glanced over at the sky to notice that the sun was nearly down. He took his eyes of the road for a second, and looked at McLean, "Chris, it's' getting late, should we stop for the night?"

''Nah, we'll get some sleep as long we will make our way to that plane." Chris shook his head in response.

Chef shrugged as his eyes went back to the road, "Whatever you say, Chris. But If I fell aslee..." His eyes shot open as a man simply walked out from the trees to the road, "HOLY!"

Chef's sudden outburst made Chris drop his mirror on the floor, as the host of Total Drama glanced through the front window and saw the same man that starled Chef. The man was just walking to the other side of the road, not caring that there was a vehicle heading his way.

"Look out!" The host of Total Drama shouted as his hands flew to the steering wheel, Chef doing the same. The RV turned right, avoiding the unknown man who proceeded to walk as nothing had happened. The RV was sent falling down the hill, taking out anything in it's path, bushes, rocks, small trees, as everyone inside of it were doing no better. Chef and Chris were clinging into each other in fear as the teenagers behind them, who just a moment ago were enjoying themselves, doing their own things weren't doing any better. Most of them were just being tossed from wall to wall, like ragdolls, but some of them weren't as lucky. Noah was knocked unconscious, Owen fell on Courtney which obviously didn't end well for her, and Duncan was pinned against the ground by a pool table.

It finally came for an end, when the RV crashed into a tree. The front window was shattered, it's pieces falling onto Chris and Chef, as the two hosts were pushed into their seats by an airbags. Chef pushed it off his face, grunting in pain. He unbuckled his belt and checked over his body for any injured, and luckily enough for him. He didn't seem to have any major injures. He looked over at Chris, who wasn't moving. The co-host of Total Drama quickly took the airbag off Chris' face and checked his pulse, only to let out a sigh of relief. Chris was alive, just unconscious.

When he made sure that Chris was okay, Chef Hatchet rised up from his seat and went over to the doors to the living area of the RV, and opened it, "You kids alright?"

"I think so..." DJ said, slowly rising up from the ground, looking around the RV, to see that Duncan was still between the pool and the wall, "Oh, man, Duncan!" He went over to the table and pushed it away, as Duncan fell on the ground, clutching his stomach in pain.

"What the hell happened?" Heather asked rudely as she stood up from the floor.

"There was some guy in the middle of the road." Chef answered, walking over to Owen to get him off Courtney who was clutching her leg in pain.

"You couldn't just honk to tell him to move out of the way?" Alejandro asked, fixing his hair.

"He saw us, but didn't care that there was an RV heading his way, he just kept walking." Chef explained, "I didn't want to ran him over, but I wasn't excepting that we'll end up falling down the hill."

Pretty much everyone had gotten themselves back on their feet, and Chef could take a good look at them. Fortunely everyone, save for a few cuts and bruises seemed to be okay, Noah was still unconscious, Duncan was still clutching his stomach, and Courtney was still holding her leg.

"Where's Chris?" Bridgette asked.

"He's in the front seat, he was knocked out by the impact, but is okay." Chef replied, opening the doors, "We should check the state of this RV."

* * *

Everyone had made their way outside. The wounded and unconscious ones were put on the ground, while the others were checking if the RV was able to take them out of here, and it wasn't in a good shape to say the least. The wheels had been shredded, the axles had cracked, most of the windows shattered, and the front of the TV was completely totaled by a a tree.

''I think it's easy to say that the RV isn't going to take us anywhere." Harold stated.

''Great, this is just great." Alejandro said, kicking the side of the RV in frustation, "Now we're stuck in the middle of the forest!"

"Well, what do we do now?" Gwen asked, leaning against the RV, with crossed arms.

Chef tapped his chin, "The only thing that we can do now is sent out a team to that will try to get help." He began explaining, "One team will stay behind with the RV, taking care of the wounded, while the other one, led by myself is going to get help."

"And who is going to go where, exactly?" Leshawna asked.

Chef looked around himself, to have a quick thought who to take, "My team will be goth girl, surfer chick, crazy girls one and two, nerds one and two, brick house, jock, and home-school."

"What?" Courtney protested, "You can't leave me behind! I used to be a CIT! You need me out..." She groaned as she tried to stand up on her wounded leg, falling back on the ground.

"With that leg, you're not going anywhere." Chef said, glancing over at Duncan, Noah and Chris, "The juvie was hit really hard with that pool table and, bookworm and pretty boy are still out cold." He turned his attention to Leshawna, Lindsay, Alejandro, Heather and Owen, "I'm counting on you guys to take care of them while me and the rest are going to try to get help."

"You can count on me, Chef." Leshawna said, saluting with her hand.

"Me too!" Lindsay added.

Alejandro just nodded his head.

"Sure, whatever, as long as you find help." Heather said.

"We won't let you down, Chef." Owen said, shoving a piece of food into his mouth, the other didn't seem to be suprised by that.

Chef rolled his eyes as he turned to his team, "Go, I'll join you in a minute."

Chef's team nodded as they left, but before they did, Izzy and Tyler gave Owen and Lindsay a kiss goodbye, as Harold tried to do the same with Leshawna, but all he got was a hug. Before Chef left to join them, he handed Alejandro a flare gun, "If someone finds you, fire it into the air."

Alejandro nodded his head as Chef went over to join his team, "Alright soldiers, we most likely are going to have a lot of walking to do, so let's get moving."

The teenagers nodded their heads as they followed Chef through the forest. Harold who was the closest one to him, noticed him holding something, "What's that?"

Chef held up his gun for of all of them to see. It was a normal 9 milimeter handgun, the teens looked at him in shock, as he explained, "Handgun, I got it from the emergency kit." He looked over his shoulder to see the expressions of teens face, before shoving it into his pocket, "Relax, I'm just being cautious. I probably won't even have to use it."

* * *

It's been several minutes since they left to get help, but for the group it felt like hours. The trees that surrounded them stretched high above them and the moon was shining in the darkened sky of the night. Beams of light from their flashlight being their only source of light, at least it was, until the home-schooled teenager from the group spotted something on the road.

"Guys, I see something up ahead." Ezekiel suddenly called out as he pointed at the road in front of them. A light finally appeared in their view, it was getting closer and closer. Someone must've been riding along this road! He could help them! A truck finally came into their view, as they began to wave and call over to the driver of it to stop, and some of them could feel how relief overcame their bodies as it stopped in front of them.

A blond-haired man who also had a blond beard came into their view. There was also one more thing they noticed about him. He had a bandaged wound on his neck and looked a bit pale, "What are you doing here?"

"Good thing you stopped. We need help. Our RV crashed and some of us are wounded." Chef explained.

"What?" The trucker asked them, "Where did your RV crashed?"

"About ten minutes of walking away from here. One of us has broken leg." Chef explained.

Drake nodded his head, as Cody asked him, "What's your name?"

"...My name is Drake." The trucker introduced himself, letting out a small grunt of pain, holding his bandaged neck.

"What happened to you?" Gwen asked what was on their minds.

"Some guy bit me in the neck, about 10 minutes ago when I was passing by the gas station to refuel." Drake explained, as everyone stared at him in shock after hearing what happened to him.

"Some guy bit you?" DJ asked, looking horrified.

"Yeah, it must've been some drug addict. Good thing the owner knocked him down with a baseball bat." Drake explained.

"Maybe you should visit a hospital with this wound." Harold stated.

"I already patched myself up with my own stuff, plus, I have to deliver this stock to Atlanta or my boss is gonna have my ass." Drake explained, "I may go visit the doctor once I'll be done with this job."

"You said that there was a gas station not too far from here?" Chef asked, wanting to be sure.

"Yes." Drake nodded his head in confirmation, "I can take some of you there. My trailer is not fully filled so it will fit some of you."

Chef nodded his head as he looked around his team, "DJ, Izzy, Tyler and Sierra are going with me. The rest of you come back to the rest and tell them that we found someone who may help us."

Harold, Gwen, Cody, Bridgette and Ezekiel nodded their heads, as they turned back and began to head back to the rest to tell them about it, while Drake hopped out of his truck and went over to the trailer. He opened it, allowing DJ, Izzy, Tyler and Sierra to get inside, and after it, he and Chef got themselves into the front seats of the truck.

"So, how long it should take before you take us there?" Chef asked.

"About ten minutes, maybe less." Drake answered, as he brought his free arm to touch his bandaged neck, clenching his teeth in pain.

"Maybe I should drive. You're not in the best condition." Chef stated.

"I'm fine. It just hurts." Drake insisted.

"How did that happen?" Chef asked.

"I was refuelling my truck on a gas station, when some strange guy came over to me. I asked him what does he want, but he just kept staring at me, I told the owner that there's some strange guy on his property and then this bastard lunged at me and bit me in the neck. Moments later the owner came out and beat him up with a baseball bat." Drake responded, "As I said, he was probably some junkie, or it may be also that sickness that's been going on recently, have you heard about it?"

"I did." Chef answered, remembering that he and Chris were listening to the radio audition about it, just moment before the crash.

"I was taking this stock to Atlanta. People are making a safe zone for those who aren't affected by this disease. I was actually heading there with this stock." Drake added.

"Safe Zone?" Chef raised his brow.

"Yes. You should head there too." Drake said, nodding his head in confirmation.

A few minutes later, they arrived at the gas station. Chef and Drake got out of the truck and were joined by the four teenagers from the trailer. The blond haired truck driver who seemed now to be even more paller told them that they should wait outside while he'll talk with the owner about their situation.

"Hey, pal!" He called over walking into the gas station, "Sorry to bother you again but when I was heading to Atlanta I came across a group of people who are in a need of help. Their RV crashed and I think we should call..." He stopped when he noticed that the owner wasn't inside of this place, "Are you here?"

The blond haired man looked around the shop in confusion. There wasn't anyone here, as least he thought so until he heard a growling from behind. He turned back and saw the owner, he was about to ask him about something but the owner suddenly lunged towards him, intending to dug his teeth into the other side of his neck. Drake gasped in shock as he grabbed the owner by his shoulders, holding him away from his neck, but it seemed like the owner wasn't going to stop.

On the corner of his eye, Drake could see the man who bit him in the neck the last time he was here, but he didn't seem to be paying any attention to him. Instead he headed towards the exit from this gas station. It took him off the guard for a second and it allowed the owner to attack him. He lunged at his neck again, only to be held away again, but this time, Drake didn't made it out without any harm. He sunk his teeth into Drake's arm, bitting off a piece of flesh from his arm, as the trucker screamed in pain.

Chef, Tyler, DJ, Izzy and Sierra, unaware of what happening inside of the gas station were waiting for Drake to come out along with the owner, and when the door swung open, they excepted to see them come out, but instead they saw someone else. An unknown man walked out of the gas station, and began to head their way the moment he set his eyes on them.

"Oh, excuse us, sir, but where's Drake?" Tyler asked him, walking closer to the man, but then he jumped man as the man lunged towards him, intending to sink his teeth into his body.

"Get behind me!" Chef shouted, as Tyler quickly made his way back to them and his behind Chef, "Don't move!" Chef shouted, glaring at the man. He continued to walk towards him and four teenagers, Chef cocked his handgun and gave them final warning, "I said don't move!" Still the two men didn't even took a step back, Chef sighed, "Alright! You asked for it!"

He pulled the trigger, and the handgun fired, behind him DJ and Sierra cried out as everyone else gasped. A bullet hole appeared in the man's chest, as he didn't seemed to be fazed by it, he continued to walk towards them, like it didn't happened. Everyone's eyes widened in fear, as Chef shouted, "What the hell?"

He fired two more rounds, and each of them hit the man in the chest, but he kept coming, still not caring that he was shot three times. The co-host of Total Drama had enough of it. He lifted his gun a little and was not aiming it at the man's head, before pulling the trigger. The bullet hit the man right in the middle of his forehead, as his lifeless body collapsed on the ground.

For minute, no one did anything, just stared at the body in shock, until DJ spoke up, "I-is he-he dead?"

Chef lowered his gun and walked over to the lifeless body of a man. He gave it a quick kick and when the man didn't moved, he nodded his head, "Yeah, he's dead."

Tyler, DJ, Izzy and Sierra all let out a sigh of relief, but their minds were still troubled by what had just happened. It was Sierra who then asked, "What about Drake?"

Then, almost as quickly as she asked this question, everyone rushed into the gas station to look for Drake. They found him. He was laying on the floor, blood was pouring from his neck, and his lifeless eyes staring up at them, next to him was laying the dead body of the owner, his head was smashed into pieces. Everyone stared at the scenery before them in horror. DJ and Sierra rushed out of the gas station to throw up.

Chef, Izzy and Tyler came out moment later, Chef carrying two pairs of keys, as DJ asked him, "What do we do now?"

"We take Drake's truck and the owner's car and get the rest." Chef responded.

"What then?" Sierra wanted to know.

Chef sighed, remembering what Drake told him about Atlanta, "Drake told me that because of what is happening with these sick people, they made a safe camp in Atlanta. We're going to get help there."

Although they seemed to be a bit hesitant, everyone nodded their heads, then Chef handed Izzy the keys to the owners car and she along with Tyler and Sierra went over to that car as Chef and DJ went over to Drake's truck. What they didn't notice was that when they drove in the direction where their RV crashed, Drake walked out of the gas station, letting out a few grunts.

They arrived at the place where their RV crashed about 10 minutes later, the hopeful expression of everyone faded away when they noticed that it was only Chef, Tyler, Izzy, DJ and Sierra. When all five of them got out of their vehicles, and walked over to the rest, they noticed that Chris and Noah awoke from their slumber, as Duncan seemed to be in much better condition, only Courtney was still clutching her broken leg for which Owen was still apologizing.

"Guys! You're back!" Lindsay said, clearly happy to see them.

"Where's the help that you told us you'll get?" Heather asked.

"There's no help coming." Chef answered, plain and true.

"What?" Heather asked.

"Guys, where's Drake?" Cody asked, wanting to know where the man they just met was.

Chef, Tyler, DJ, Izzy and Sierra looked down on the ground, neither of them wanting to talk about what happened on the gas station, as the first one spoke up, "We need to get going."

"What happened to him?" Gwen wanted to know.

Chef sighed as he turned to look at Chris, "Chris, do you remember what he heard in the radio, before you turned it off?"

Chris nodded his head, "Yeah."

"It's true. When we arrived at the gas station, Drake went into the gas station to talk with the owner as we waited for them outside. He didn't came back, only some strange guy came out of the station a few moments of waiting for Drake. He lunged for Tyler and tried to bit him." Chef started explaining what happened at the gas station as Lindsay gasped, coming over to Tyler to embrace him, "I had to kill him... I shot him three times, yet, he was still moving as if I didn't shot him three times in the chest, then I shot him in the head which finally finished him off, then we went inside of the gas station and found Drake, dead, in a pool of his blood."

Everyone, even Heather, Alejandro, Chris and Duncan seemed to be shocked by what he just said. No one knew what to say, until Bridgette asked, "So, what should we do now? Where should we go?"

"Atlanta. They are making a safe zone there. This is where we're going to get help." Chef explained.

He didn't had to say more, everyone immediately started preparing themselves for the trip to Atlanta. Everyone who was wounded in the crash was taken to the truck trailer, and took some things from the RV that they could use in the future. The group split themselves into two segments, one in the truck, the other one in the car. The latter one was obviously smaller and consisted of Izzy, Owen, Ezekiel and DJ. The other one in the truck consisted of Duncan, Courtney, Heather, Tyler, Lindsay, Gwen, Alejandro, Leshawna, Harold, Noah, Cody, Sierra, Bridgette, Chef and Chris, with the teenagers being in the trucks trailer and the hosts being in the driver seats.

They had a long road ahead of them.

* * *

They had almost arrived in Atlanta, about two hours later, as they were stopped by a huge traffic which was leading straight to that city. They were dozens of people who were heading to that city for the same reason. Most of them were waiting for then traffic to start moving, standing by the truck's trailer, or sitting inside of it. For the entire time they stood there, nothing much has happened, they just talked with each other, or the people who wanted to get into that city as much as they did, until they saw some jets fly above their heads, heading towards the city of Atlanta.

"Guys! You need to see this!" Owen's voice suddenly called over to them, as he and Izzy took off a few minutes ago, to take a look at Atlanta.

Everyone reacted to that, thinking that it may have something to do. Even Courtney with her broken leg went over to check what was happening, holding onto Duncan, keeping her broken leg away from the ground, while balancing on her other unbroken leg.

"What is going on?" Leshawna asked them, as Owen and Izzy simply pointed at the city.

Everyone's eyes shot open at the view of the jets dropping napalms into the city, which were exploading as soon as they touched the ground, people who were in the city at that time screaming in horror.

"Tyler..." Lindsay said, horrified as he buried her face into her boyfriends shoulder, taking her eyes off the explosions.

"C'mere, don't look at this." He told her, not even thinking about letting her look at it.

Cody covered his mouth with his hands, as he felt someone embrace him tightly, this someone being of course Sierra. Normally, he'd tell her to let him go, but now this wasn't on his mind.

"Guys, what is going on?" DJ asked, holding back tears at the horrified screams of people of Atlanta, but got no answer.

Everyone just stared horrified at what just happening before their eyes, even Chef, Chris, Heather, Izzy, Duncan, and Alejandro seemed to be horrified by the sight.

It was just a start of a nightmare...


	2. Rick Grimes

**This chapter takes place after Rick woke up from the coma, and found himself in Atlanta where he comes across Glenn and the group from Atlanta.**

* * *

If Rick Grimes was honest with himself, this wasn't how he was excepting to wake up from coma. When he woke up from coma, he found a completely new world. His hometown was desolated and there wasn't anyone alive in sight, at he thought that his hometown was completely abandoned, until he came across a man named Morgan and his son Duane who explained everything that Rick needed to know, the day after, after taking every gun that was left in the police station, the two men said their goodbyes to each other and Rick left to Atlanta, hoping that he'll find his way there.

As for now, he was riding along the empty side of the highway to enter Atlanta, a city where he was told by Morgan people made a safe zone for the people, but his first impression of it were far away from good. He could easily tell that the city was abandoned, even from the highway.

He only found himself to be correct when he rode into the city and along the streets. He saw that the streets were abandoned and there was trash everywhere. He lead the horse down the street where there werehelicopters, cars, and even a tank wrecked along the road. He rode past a bus and some of the walkers saw him. They got up and start to walk toward him, but he didn't panic.

''Whoa. Steady. There's just a few. Nothing we can't outrun." He told his horse, calming it down. He simply rode past them, heading down the street. He glanced over at the tank and saw a dead body that is being pecked at by crows. He rode past it, taking his eyes of the body, and it was just a moment before he saw a helicopter fly above his head. He told his horse to follow it, and when they turned around the corner, the police officer saw a huge group of walkers.

"Oh, shit." He cursed under his breath at the view of a massive group of the undead. He quickly turned the horse around to the side from which they came from, but was quickly meet with another group of the undead which surrounded him and the horse. He did his best to get away from the group of the walkers, but he couldn't. There was simply too much of them. He was trapped.

"Oh, god." He said to moments before the walkers completely filled his surroudings, knocking him down off his horse. He quickly started to crawl away from it, leaving behind a bag that was filled with guns he took from the police station from his home town. Several walkers quickly dug into the horse as the animal screamed in agony as it was eaten alive by the undead.

Rick quickly crawled down underneath the tank while some of the walkers were still trying to catch him, crawling right after him. He quickly pulled out his Colt Python, the only weapon he had with him at this moment, and shot some of them down, but it didn't matter how many he killed. More came, quickly crawling past the lifeless bodies of the ones that Rick just killed.

It was when he came to a realization. It was over for him. Walkers were coming from him from every sides, and he was running out of bullets, he only had one or two left his in his Python. He aimed it at his head, ready to use he last bullet to himself, whispering to himself, "Lori, Carl,I'm sorry."

Just as he was about to pull the trigger and end his life, he looked up and saw the hatch to the tank was above him, and it was opened! He still had a chance to get out of this. Quickly forgetting about the fact that he was about to end his life, he crawled into the tank, quickly shutting the hatch, so the undead wouldn't get him.

He sat down on the ground of the tank, breathing heavilly, just moments before he saw a dead soldier in the tank, a soldier just like everyone else on the street. He took the soldier's gun, and used the last bullet in his Python to shoot him through the head. The sound of the bullet in the enclosed space hurt Rick's ears and it took him a minute to get his hearing back.

"Ah..." He groaned, waiting for his ears to stop hurting, and when they finally did stopped hurting, he started to crawl up to the top hatch and looked outside. He saw that the bag of guns was lying in the street way out of his reach. The rest of the walkers started to converge on the tank to get to him, but luckily Rick shut the hatch before they could get him. Rick sat in the tank and seemed very disheartened, knowing that he was still trapped in the middle of the herd of the undead.

Just then, the radio in the tank starts to make static sounds. A voice on the other end started talking, " _Hey, you. dumbass. Yeah, you in the tank. Are you cozy in there?_ "

Rick could feel how his heart almost stopped when he heard that noise, at first, he thought that he was just hearing things, but the other voice, " _Hey, dude. Are you still there? Me and my friend here are getting worried._ "

The police officer crawled to the radio and answered to their calls, "Hello? Hello?"

" _There you are._ " The first voice stated.

''Where are you? Outside? Can you see me right now?" Rick quickly asked these two men a few questions.

" _Yes, we can. You're surrounded by those things, this is bad._ " The second voice answered.

"There's a good news?" Rick raised his brow.

" _No._ " The second voice replied, " _I wish there was though._ "

''Listen, whoever you are, I don't mind telling you, but I'm a little concerned in here." Rick told both of them.

'' _Oh man. You should see it from over here. You'd be having a major freak-out._ " The first voice stated.

"Got any advice for me?" Rick asked them.

There was a small pause on the other side, before one of the voices spoke up, " _Yeah, we'd say make a run for it._ "

''That's it? "Make a run for it"?" Rick said in response.

' _'_ _Our way's not as dumb as it sounds. You've got eyes on the outside here. There's one geek still up on the tank but the others have climbed down and joined the feeding frenzy where the horse went down..._ " The first voice explained the situation to Rick.

" _Are you with us so far?_ " The second voice added.

"So far." Rick replied with a nod of his head, knowing that they couldn't see him nod.

' _'_ _Okay, the street on the other side of the tank is less crowded. If you move now while they're distracted, you stand a chance." The first voie stated, "Got ammo?_ "

''In that duffel bag I dropped out there,and guns. Can I get to it?" Rick asked.

" _No, dude, this will be pretty much a suicide for you. You may stand a chance when you'll get out, but when you'll try to get this bag, this chance will be gone._ " The second voice pointed out, " _Do you have something with you?_ "

Rick quickly checked the pistol he got from the dead soldier, all it had was one clip of ammo, "Yeah." He also found a grenade laying around. He picked it up and put it on the slot on his belt, "I've got a Beretta with one clip,15 rounds."

'' _Make 'em count. Jump off the right side of the tank, keep going in that direction. There's an alley up the street, maybe 50 yards. Be there_." The first voice told him.

"Hey, what's your name?" Rick asked the two men about their names.

"We'll tell you once we'll find each other, now you're running out of time." The second voice pointed out.

"Right." Rick said, agreeing with him on this.

Rick made a quick break after grabbing a metal shard in the tank. He opened the top and whacked the walker off the tank with the metal shard, slicing its face wide open. He quickly got himself off the tank and began to run towards the alley, shooting every walker down that came into his way in the process. They turned around the corner, almost killing on of the men from the radio in the process, " Whoa! Not dead! Come on!''

Rick quickly followed him to the ladder where a red clothed teenager who went by the name of Tyler stood, "C'mon guys!" He shouted as he started to climb up the ladder, the guy from the radio and Rick followed his example and climbed up the ladder. Once they got up there, they stopped to catch a breath.

"Nice moves there, Clint Eastwood. You the new sheriff come riding in to clean up the town?" The man from the radio joked.

''It wasn't my intention.'' Rick stated.

"Yeah, whatever. You're still a dumbass." He joked before introducing himself, "My name is Glenn. My friend here is Tyler."

"I'm Rick." Rick said, shaking Glenn's hand, before moving it to Tyler, so the teenager could shake it too, "Thanks."

"No problem, it's pretty rare to see someone alive in this city." Tyler said back, as all three of them looked up at the rest of the ladder to the roof.

"The bright side: It'll be the fall that kills us. I'm a glass-half-full kind of guy." Glenn stated as he climbed up the ladder.

"Yeah, it much better than getting eated by the walkers." Tyler said, before following Glenn, and was followed by Rick.

"Are you the one that barricaded the alley?" Rick asked them as the three men reached the roof.

''Somebody did... I guess when the city got overrun." Glenn replied.

"Or it happened when they bombed this city." Tyler added, remembering how he and everyone came to Atlanta to get some help, but they didn't even made it into the city as it was bombarded.

"There's one thing for sure. Whoever did it was thinking not many geeks would get through." Glenn stated before climbing down a ladder into the building, then everyone ran through an office building and out the back door. They ran down the steps. They stopped when they saw two walkers in the alley. Rick aimed with Barreta he got from the tank at them and was about to shot them down but three guys with armor bursted through the door with the baseball bats and beat them to death as Glenn and Tyler lead Rick inside.

When, they were inside a blonde woman pinned Rick to the wall, pointing her gun at him, "You son of a bitch!"

"You realize what you just done?" Courtney added, joining the woman's side. Thankfully, her broken leg had healed a long time ago, and she could actually start doing something, and going for journey to cities like that was one of them.

"Andrea, Courtney, just calm down." Bridgette tried to calm them down.

"That's right, girls. Aiming that thing at each other is not going to help anyone." Leshawna added, standing by Bridgette's side.

''Come on, ease up." A black skinned woman, Jacqui added.

''Ease up? You're kidding me, right?" Andrea asked, glancing back at Jacqui, Bridgette, and Leshawna.

''We're dead because of he just did!" Courtney added, pointing at Rick.

"Andrea, don't pull the trigger, you're just going to brind more of them here." Alejandro pointed out, taking last piece of gear off his body, before he started fixing up his hair which was messed up by the helmet, as Rick snatched the gun from her.

''Are we finished now?" He asked as Andrea and Courtney backed up a bit and looked at him.

"We're all dead, all of us, because of you..." Andrea said, she and Courtney looking like they were about to cry.

"I don't understand." Rick stated.

"Let me explain." The man named Morales said, before he lead Rick and the others into the store area, "Look, we came into the city to scavenge for supplies. You know what the key to scavening is? Surviving! You know the key to surviving? Sneaking in and out, tiptoeing. Not shooting down every walker on your way."

''Every walker for miles around hear y'all popping off rounds." The black skinned man, T-Dog added.

''You just rang the dinner bell." Courtney stated as they all looked at the main door packed with walkers, trying to brake in, "And we're the dinner. Their dinner."

"What are you doing here, anyway?" Alejandro asked.

''Trying to flag the helicopter." Rick explained, truthfully

"Helicopter? Man,that's crap. Ain't no damn helicopter." T-Dog stated.

"You were chasing a hallucination,imaging things it happens to everyone." Bridgette added.

"I saw it." Rick stated as Leshawna spotted a walkie-talkie tied up to his chest.

"Hey. T-Dog. Can you use it to contact with our people in the camp?" She asked

"There's more of you?" Rick asked, "The Refugee Center?"

"Yeah. The Refugee Center. They have biscuits waiting in the oven for us." Jacqui said, sarcastically.

"We can try on the roof." T-Dog stated.

Suddenly, the group heard a gun shot from the roof, as Tyler, "Don't tell me that's Dixon."

"I think you already know the answer." Morales replied as the group made their way to the roof to see a man in his late 40's, firing bullets from his rifle at the walkers on the street.

''Hey, are you crazy? We already have enough of them on our tail!" Alejandro pointed out, running up to him.

''Hey, Al! Be polite to a man with gun!" Merle laughed.

"You realize you're wasting bullets we barely even got?" Leshawna stated, glaring at Merle, Bridgette and Courtney by her side were glaring as well

''And you're bringing more of them!" T-Dog added.

"Hey! Bad enough I got this taco-bender on my shit all day. Now I'm gonna take orders from both of you? I don't think so. That'll be the day." Merle said back.

"That'll be the day? You've got something you want to tell me?" T-Dog asked.

''T-Dog, just leave it." Morales told them.

"No." T-Dog said.

"No. It ain't worth it." Morales stated.

"Now, Merle. Just relax." Glenn added.

"That's right. Arguing is the last thing we should do right now." Bridgette added. She despised Merle as much everyone else in the group did, but now there was no time to argue.

"You want to know the day? I'll tell you the day Mr Yo? It's the day I take orders from a nigger." Merle told T-Dog. The black skinned man glared at Merle, having enough of his behaviour. He lunged forward, intending to punch him but Merle was faster and hit him with his rifle, the man who tried to hit him fell on the ground. Everyone started to shout to Merle to stop as he started beating him to the pulp, and when he was done with it, he held up his gun, as everyone moved ot the wounded T-Dog, "Yeah! All right! We're gonna have ourselves a little powwow, huh? Talk about who's in charge. I vote me." He said, raised his free hand up, when no one else raised his hand, he added, "Anybody else? Huh?"

Everyone slowly started rising their hands up, with Alejandro being the last one of them to do it. He seriously had an urge to do something to Merle, he hated when someone was toying with him like Merle was just doing, but he'd never mess with a man who has a gun while he's weaponless.

"All in favor. That's good. Now that means I'm the boss, right? Yeah. Anybody else? Hmm? Anybody?" Merle smirked, looking around himself.

'Yeah." Rick as Merle turned around to the newest member of their small group, only to be knocked down and handcuffed him to a metal pipe,

"Who the hell are you,man?!'' The now handcuffed man asked.

"Officer friendly." Rick started explaining, "Look here, Merle. Things are different now. There are no niggers anymore. No dumb-as-shit, inbred white-trash fools either. Only dark meat and white meat. There's us and the dead. We survive this by pulling together, not apart."

"Screw you." Merle said to Rick.

''"I can see you make a habit of missing the point." Courtney stated, watching over the now handcuffed Merle with crossed arms.

"Yeah. Well, screw you too, CIT." Merle said to her.

'' _Be polite to a man with a gun._ You said it yourself." Rick said, putting the gun to Merle's face.

"You wouldn't. You're a cop." Merle stated.

"All I am anymore is a man who is looking for his wife and son." Rick said as he searched Merle's pocket. He found drugs and tossed them off the roof.

"Hey! What are you doing! That's my stuff!" Merle shouted as everyone walked away from him, "Hey! If I get loose, you'd better pray... Yeah, you hear me, you pig?! You hear me?!"

He continued to shout insults at Rick, but he, along with everyone didn't listen to any word he said, as Leshawna and Bridgette went over to T-Dog to patch him up from the fight he had with the Dixon, as Leshawna said, "C'mon, sugar. Let us patch you up."

Rick went over to the edge of the roof, glancing over at the streets as Morales approached him, "You're not Atlanta P.D. Where you from?''

''Up the road a ways." Rick answered, gesturing towards the road for which he came from.

Morales looked in the direction of the road, and gave Rick a quick pat on his bed, "Well, officer friendly from up the road a ways, welcome to the big city."

* * *

Everyone were looking over at the streets from the roof as the streets that were still filled with walkers and it seemed like there wasn't end of them, more and more kept coming.

"God, it's like times square down there." Andrea stated.

Leshawna turned to T-Dog for a second and asked, "How's that signal?"

"Like Dixon's brain-weak." T-Dog answered, sending Merle a quick glance, to which the Dixon gave him the middle finger in response.

''Keep trying." Rick said, not taking his eyes off the streets.

'' Why? There's nothing they can do. Not a damn thing.'' Andrea stated.

"You know something, Andrea. You are a really discouraging." Alejandro stated.

"I'm just a realist." Andrea pointed out.

''Got some people outside the city is all. There's no refugee center. That's a pipe dream.'' Morales said to Rick.

"People?" Rick asked.

"Yeah, a whole group of them." Bridgette answered.

"There's no chance we're going to cross those streets." Courtney stated.

''What about under the streets? The sewers?" Rick suggested.

Morales turned to Glenn and Tyler after hearing this suggestion, "Hey, Glenn, Tyler, check the alley. You see any manhole covers?''

Glenn and Tyler quickly went over to the to check that, but unfortunely, walkers were all they could see, "No, must be all out on the street where the walkers are.''

''Maybe not. Old building like this built in the '20s..." Jacqui spoke up, as everyone looked at her, "Big structures often had drainage tunnels into the sewers in case of flooding down in the subbasements."

"How do you know that?" Tyler raised his brow.

"It's my job... was. I worked in the city zoning office." Jacqui explained.

It was all the information they needed to get from her. Most of them went with her to see if they could get out of this sitation leaving Merle who was still handcuffed to the pipe, along with T-Dog who was still checking the radio, Leshawna who was left to just be there in case if something bad happens, and Alejandro who was left on the roof to look through the binocular so he could find something on the streets that would help them escape.

T-Dog brought the walkie talkie to his mouth and tried to call the camp again, "Anybody out there? Hello? Anybody read? I'm hoping to hear somebody's voice 'cause I'm getting sick and tired of hearing mine."

''Yeah, well, that makes two of us." Merle stated.

"Oh, you're again with it?" Leshawna asked him, knowing that Merle was just looking for another way to mess with someone, "Can't you just knock it off for a moment?"

"You're starting to give me a headache, both of you." Merle stated, shaking his head.

"Why don't you pull your head out of your ass? Maybe your headache will go away." T-Dog retorted as Merle just chuckled in response, "Try some positivity for a change. Damn.''

"I'll tell you what... You get me out of these cuffs and I'll be all "Sammy Sunshine" positive for you." Merle said to T-Dog, as he turned to Leshawna, "The same goes for you, girlie."

Leshawna shook her head, "I don't think so,if we let you out you're just try to beat someone up again."

"You're really bringing that up? It's wasn't personal." Merle defended himself, as he turned to T-Dog, "Right?"

''I guess you want me to get that rifle over there too so you can shoot that cop when he comes back up, huh?" T-Dog stated, earning a glare from Merle as he looked over at Alejandro who was still watching over the streets, "Hey, Alejandro, see anything?"

Alejandro shook his head, "Nothing's changed. I just wish we could've find a way how to get to those trucks."

The group had sent Glenn, Morales and Tyler to the sewers to let them find a way out of this rather bad situation. Rick, Andrea, Jacqui, Courtney and Bridgette all stayed behind and waited for them to return in the store, which also watching over if the walkers are going to break through the glass.

Rick peeked over his shoulder and saw Andrea, looking down at the necklace, as he approached her, "See something you like?"

Andrea gestured towards the necklace with mermaid on the counter, ''Not me, but I know someone who would... My sister. She's still such a kid in some ways. Unicorns, dragons... She's into all that stuff. But mermaids... They rule. She loves mermaids."

"Why not take it?" Rick asked her.

"There's a cop staring at me.'' Andrea pointed out as Rick chuckled, "Would it be considered looting?"

''I don't think those rules apply anymore." Rick stated, "Do you?"

Andrea grinned as she took the necklace off the counter and hid it in her pocket.

Andrea wasn't the only one who was staring at jewerly, Courtney noticed that Bridgette was staring at something in her right hand. She peered over her shoulder and that it was a heart-shaped locket. It was open, revealing a picture of her and Geoff, their arms at each other shoulder, smilling at the camera. They looked so happy.

"Where'd you get that locket?" She asked the surfer girl.

"Oh, that?" Bridgette looked over at Courtney. The surfer girl being one of not many Total Drama contestantst that CIT got along with, "Geoff got it for me after Total Drama Action. He said that it was a "I'm sorry" gift for acting the way he did during the aftermatch shows." She sighed, "I just really miss him."

Courtney gave her a quick pat on her shoulder, "We're going to find him, one day, I'm sure about it.."

"I hope so." Bridgette gave her a sad nod in reponse.

The CIT was about to add something before everyone heard the sound of shattering glass. Everyone's eye went over to the exit to see the walkers breaking through the first glass doors and moving over to the other ones which would lead them straight into the shop. The group went over closer to the doors, with Rick drawing his gun out in order to defend himself and the rest from them in case if they broke in, as Morales, Glenn and Tyler went back to their group.

''What did you find down there?" Rick asked all three of them.

"Not a way out." Morales answered.

"We're literally trapped in here, guys." Tyler added.

"We need to find a way out, soon..." Courtney stated, her eyes not leaving the walkers, "It's a matter of time before they get here."

* * *

The whole group went back to the roof, and and went over to Alejandro to see if the hispanic teenager found anything, with Tyler asking him, "Hey, Alejandro. Please tell us you found anything new."

"I think you already know the answer. Just wish we found a way how we can get past those things to this construction site or one of those trucks." Alejandro answered.

"Wait, there's a construction site?" Rick asked Alejandro.

The teenager in response handed him the binocular, "Take a look."

Rick took a glance at the streets, mostly at the construction site and trucks Alejandro mentioned, "That construction site, those trucks you mentioned... They always keep keys on hand."

''You'll never make it past the walkers." Morales stated.

"You got me out of that tank." Rick pointed out, sending a quick glance at Glenn and Tyler.

''Yeah, but they were feeding. They were distracted." Glenn said.

"Can we distract them again?" Rick asked.

''Right. Listen to him. He's onto something. A diversion, like on "Hogan's Heroes"." Merle butted in.

"Oh, give it a rest." Leshawna told him.

Ignoring Merle's comment, Rick said, "They're drawn by sound,right?"

''Right, like dogs. They hear a sound, they come." Bridgette replied.

''What else?" Rick wanted to know.

''Aside from they hear you? They see you, smell you and if they catch you, they eat you." Courtney answered.

''They can tell us by smell?" Rick asked.

"Can't you?" Glenn said.

"They smell dead, we don't. It's pretty distinct." Andrea concluded.

Rick hummed, an idea of how they could get past them forming in his mind as Alejandro looked over at him, "Is this what I think it is?

* * *

Rick, Tyler, Alejandro, Glenn, Morales, T-Dog, Andrea, Leshawna, Jacqui, Bridgette and Courtney, well pretty much everyone in the group except for Merle was preparing for the idea that Rick came up with,

''If bad ideas were an Olympic event, this would take the gold." Glenn stated.

"He's right. Just stop, okay? Take some time to think this through." Morales added.

"How much time?" Rick asked, "They already got through one set of doors, that glass won't hold forever.'' Rick said, throwing Glenn some clothes.

When everything was ready, Rick went outside, and took out the nearest walker before taking it with him, back into the store, as Tyler, Morales, Glenn and Alejandro were watching his back just in case if something bad was going to happen. Everyone stood ready, wearing lab coats and gloves for the next part of Rick's plan. They formed a circle around the walker.

Rick raised the axe in the air and was about to chop a hole in the walkers' body, but stopped at the last moment and kneeled down before the body, taking out a wallet, before reading to everyong who this man used to be, "Wayne Dunlap. Georgia license. Born in 1979. He had $28 in his pocket when he died... And a picture of a pretty girl. "With love, from Rachel." He used to be like us... Worrying about bills or the rent or the Super Bowl. If I ever find my family, I'm gonna tell them about Wayne."

"One more thing-he was an organ donor." Glenn added.

"Bad time for a joke, sugar." Leshawna said to Glenn.

Glenn bit his lips, "Yeah, I just realized that, sorry."

It was when Rick started chopping Wayne's stomach open, as everyone was clearly disgusted by it, Morales being the first one to sound his disgust, "Madre de dios!"

"I can't look at this." Bridgette said, taking her eyes off what was just happening, Courtney and Jacqui following her example.

"Okay, guys, this is too much." Tyler said, taking his eye off this as well.

Rick stopped for a second and looked over at Morales, " Keep chopping."

" I am so gonna hurl." Glenn stated, as Morales brought the axe down on Wayne's stomach, to make the hole bigger.

''Later." Rick told him.

A moment later, Morales backed away as it seemed like everything was ready for whatever they were planning to do, as Rick asked everyone. " Everybody got gloves? Don't get any on your skin or in your eyes.''

When everyone nodded their heads, they reached into the walker's guts and started applying them on Rick, Glenn, Tyler and Alejandro, the asian man was clearly uncomfortable and they couldn't really blame him, "Oh God! Oh jeez. Oh, this is bad. This is really bad."

''Think about something else... Puppies and kittens." Rick joked.

"Yeah, dead puppies and kittens." Tyler added, doing his best not to look as guts that were slowly being applies onto his body.

"When I said that I'd want to find a way how to get to one of those trucks or construction site, this isn't how I imagined it." Alejandro said, glancing at the ceiling, not wanting to look how Leshawna and Courtney were applying more and more guts onto him.

"This is so evil." Bridgette stated. This was far worse than anything Chris came up with during her time in Total Drama.

"What is wrong with you?" Andrea asked Rick.

''Next time let the cracker beat his ass." Jacqui said as she rubbed more guts on Rick.

"Do we smell like them?" Rick asked, ignoring Jacqui's comment.

''Oh, believe me you do." Leshawna said, waving the hand in front of her to get rid of the smell.

''Glenn. Just in case." Andrea said, handing Glenn her gun.

"What about Merle Dixon?" T-Dog asked.

Rick tossed the handcuff key to T-Dog. as he said, "We need... we need more guts.''

* * *

Rick, Alejandro, Tyler and Glenn walked outside, with Morales shutting the doors behind them, now the clothes they were wearing being fully covered by guts and blood, as they walked past two walkers that happened to be nearby The undead briefly looked at them, but overally didn't paid much attention to them as all four of them smelled bad enough for them to not get spotted by them. They crawled under a bus and came out on the other side where a huge group of walkers was, it almost seemed like they were waiting for them. They continued to shuffle through the crowd without any walkers noticing that they are alive, sigh of reliefs that it was actually working escaping Glenn's and Tyler's mouth.

As they were slowly making their way through the street, the rest of group made it back to the roof, looking over how they were doing but at first they had to spot them, as they heard Merle ask them, "Hey, what's happening,man?"

"Hey,T-Dog, try that CB.'' Morales said to T-Dog.

"Hey come on talk to me, y'all!" Merle called out, but was still ignored.

T-Dog brought the walkie talkie close to himself as he called out, ''Base camp, this is T-Dog. Anybody hear me? Can anybody out there hear me?"

"I see them!" Bridgette said, pointing down at the streets.

"That asshole is out on the street with the handcuff keys?" Merle asked, as thunder rumbled.

Another thunder rumbled, as T-Dog showed Merle the keys in response.

Rick, Tyler, Alejandro and Glenn proceeded to make their way through the streets, as they all heard Glenn whisper to himself, "It's gonna work. I can't believe it."

"Don't say anything, dude." Tyler whispered to Glenn, being quite happy that this was working. They finally had a chance to get out of here.

"Don't draw attention, both of you." Alejandro told them.

A walker came over to Glenn, walking right by his side. A spark of panic grew inside of him, as he started to growl, trying to imitate how a walker sounds like,

Then, completely out of sudden, it started to rain, the droplets of water falling down at the city, and more importantly at the four people who were closer and closer to their task of getting out of this city. They tried not to panic, as they continued to walk in normal pace. The worst thing of all they noticed that the rain was starting to wash of the guts of their clothes. The walkers were starting to get a whiff of life walking past them and they started to get a little more aggressive towards all four of them as they try to figure out if they were dead or alive.

Glenn could hear Alejandro cursing in spanish under his breath as he asked Rick, "The smell's washing off. Isn't it? Is it washing off?"

''No, It's not.." Rick answered but quickly found himself to be wrong as the walkers noticed them, "Well, maybe."

"Guys, we better run." Tyler stated.

The four of them started running down the street, taking out every walker that was standing in their way as they literally chased by every walker on the street. They finally made their way over to the fence and climbed over it before the walkers were able to get them. While Glenn was trying to find the keys to the truck, Rick pulled out a pistol and killed more Walkers with it, as Tyler and Alejandro stabbed the other few of them with their knives.

When Glenn finally found the keys to the truck, he threw them to Rick. All of them quickly got themselves into the truck, being practically squished in there as it was clearly not made for four people to be inside of it at the same time, but it wasn't on their mind right now. The truck quickly sped off, as the walkers were trying to catch them.

''They're leaving us." Andrea said, watching everything from the roof.

"What, what do you mean?" Merle asked.

''Where they going? Where they going?" Morales asked.

''No, no, come back." Courtney said, anxiously.

''Oh my God. Oh my God. They're all over that place!" Glenn panicked, looking around himself.

''You need to draw them away. Those roll-up doors at the front of the store... That area?" Rick started explaining everything to the asian man, "That's what I need cleared. Raise your friends. Tell them to get down there and be ready."

"And I'm drawing the geeks away how? I-I missed that part." Glenn stated.

"Noise, and Tyler is joining you." Rick explained.

* * *

Rick busted the window of a red sports car and opened the door.. The car alarm starts to sound across the street and Rick hotwired the car for Glenn and Tyler. Glenn and Tyler got into the car and drove off along the street to lead the walkers away from the shop while Rick and Alejandro took the truck back to the place from which the came from.

"Those roll-up doors at the front of the store facing the street..." Tyler said, sitting next to Glenn who was leading the walkers away from the shop,"Meet us there and be ready."

Everyone on the roof immediately reacted to that, and started heading towards the place where Rick and Alejandro would be waiting for them, not seeming to care that Dixon was still handcuffed to the pipe.

"Hey, you can't leave me here! I'm not fooling, man! Morales! Hey, man! Don't do this!" He called out to the group, as everyone left the room, everyone except for T-Dog who was still hesitating if he should leave Merle or not, "Hey, T-Dog. No, man. You can't leave me, man. You can't leave me here... Not like this. You can't, man. It's not human. Come on, don't do this!"

T-Dog groaned but decided to free Merle, however, when he ran back towards Dixon, he trippe. The handcuff key fell out of his hand and ended up dropping down a drain.

Merle glared at the black skinned man, "Son of a bitch! You did that on purpose!"

"I didn't mean to!" T-Dog said, rising up from the ground.

"You lie! You did it on purpose!" Merle shouted, not believing him, as T-Dog slowly started walking away, towards the exit.

" Don't leave me, man! Don't leave me! Don't leave me! You liar!" Merle kept shouting at him.

"I'm sorry. Man ,I'm sorry!" T-Dog apologized for him for what he was about to do, as he ran towards the exit, but before he ran down the stairs to join the rest of the group, in an effor to help Merle, he chained the door to the roof shut, so the walkers wouldn't get to him if they eventually broke into the shop.

The last thing he heard as he was running down the stairs was Merle shouting, "Don't leave me! You'll die! Go to hell! Damn you! You're gonna rot in hell!''

He joined the rest of the survivors just in time before the walkers broke through the second set of doors and stormed the store, but fortunely for the survivors thanks to Glenn and Tyler who were drawing the walkers away in the sports car, Rick and Alejandro had the chance to pull in with his truck.

Everyone quickly got into the back of the truck and Rick and Alejandro took them away from this place as soon as everyone was inside, but when they were driving away, they noticed that someone was missing and looked over at T-Dog.

"I dropped the key." was the only thing they had to get.

Realizing there was nothing that they can do, the group drove away from Atlanta. Andrea noticed Glenn and Tyler weren't around, "Where's Glenn? And Tyler?"

Down the highway through which Rick entered Atlanta, the car alarm wasstill ringing as Glenn and Tyler speeded down the highway in the red sports car. They were listening to music and screaming at the rush of driving down the road this fast.

"Whoo-hoo-hoo! Yeah-hoo-hoo!" Glenn cheered loudly, clearly enjoying it.

"Maybe getting ourselves covered in the walkers guts wasn't so bad, right, dude?" Tyler said, enjoying this as much as Glenn did.

The asian man nodded his head in agreement as they proceeded to drive towards their camp.

* * *

Glenn and Tyler had finally arrived in the camp as they got out of the car, the alarm was still ringing as the entire camp was gathering around at their arrival.

"Turn that thing off!" Chef told them, approaching them.

"I don't know how!" Glenn answered, with Tyler nodding his head in agreement.

"Pop the hood, please. Pop the damn hood, please." Shane Walsh said, approaching him as well.

"My sister Andrea..." Andrea's sister, Amy asked, as she ran over to them.

"Pop the damn hood!" Shane repeated himself.

"Tyler what about Leshawna, Bridgette, and everyone else, are they okay?" Harold asked.

Shane popped the hood disconnect the battery to turn the alarm off, as Glenn said Amy, "She's okay! She's okay!"

"Is she coming back?" Amy kept asking about her sister.

"Yes!" Glenn replied.

"What about the rest, are they coming back?" DJ asked.

"Everybody is fine!" Tyler answered, "Except maybe Merle..."

"Are both you crazy, driving this wailing bastard here?" Shane scolded Glenn and Tyler, "Are you trying to draw every Walker for miles?"

'' I think we're okay?" Dale Horvath stated.

"You call being stupid okay?" Chris asked, turning to Dale with crossed arms.

"They could have drag more of those things into our camp." Heather pointed out.

''Well, the alarm was echoing all over these hills. Hard to pinpoint the source. I'm not arguing. I'm just saying." Dale explained as he turned to Tyler and Glenn, "It wouldn't hurt you to think things through a little more carefully next time, would it?"

"Sorry..." Tyler apologized, rubbing his forehead.

"Got a cool car..." Glenn added as everyone could see the truck arriving in the camp and a moment later and people started coming out of it.

"Amy." Andrea said as she ran up to her sister and hugged her.

"Andrea." Amy said as she hugged her sister back. Tears slowly started to stream down their cheeks

"Tyler!" Lindsay cheered, happy to see him again as she finally ran over to him and embraced him. Leshawna and Bridgette were being greeted back in the camp by their friends.

"It's good to see you again, Al!" Owen shouted, as he held his hand for a high five, Alejandro's eyes twitched, recalling that he told everyone to not call him "Al", some of them respected his request, but some of them, Owen being one of them didn't. Although he was a bit hesitant, he gave Owen a quick high five, as he walked into the camp.

"How'd y'all get out of there anyway?" Shane wanted to know.

''Some guy we've meet helped us." Bridgette answered, after sharing a quick hug with DJ.

''Some guy you've meet?" Chef raised his brow, titling his head in her direction.

''Yeah, crazy white boy just got into town." Leshawna explained.

"Hey, helicopter boy! Come say hello!" Morales called over to Rick to came out.

Shane looked at man who helped his people get out of Atlanta and his expression turned into shock because he saw that it was his best friend, who he thought was dead. He took a few steps back as he could not believe his eyes, then he glanced over at Lori and Carl, Rick's family who looked over at him. They, just like him couldn't believe their eyes at who just arrived in their camp.

"Oh my god." Rick said as he started to walk towards them.

"Dad! Dad!" Carl shouted as rushed forward to Rick, followed by his mom. The family embraced each other tightly as most of the camp stared at them.

The family was reunited.

* * *

**The next chapter is going to be about going for the guns, and Merle, and it will end with the attack on the camp, be prepared, we may lost one or two Total Drama characters in this attack.**


	3. Tell it to the Frogs

People from the camp were sitting around the camp fire. They were listening to Rick's story about what happened when he woke up from his coma.

"Disoriented." He began, "I guess that comes closest. Disoriented. Fear, confusion. All those things but disoriented comes closest. Words can be meager things. Sometimes they fall short. I felt like I'd been ripped out of my life and put somewhere else. For a while I thought I was trapped in some coma dream, something I might not wake up from ever."

Carl looked up at his dad as he said, "Mom said you died."

"She had every reason to believe that. Don't you ever doubt that." Rick told his son.

"When things started to get really bad, they told me at the hospital that they were gonna medevac you and the other patients to Atlanta, and it never happened." Lori said.

"Well, I'm not suprised, after Atlanta fell." Rick stated.

"Yeah." Lori agreed with her husband.

"And from the look of that hospital, it got overrun." Rick stated.

"Yeah, looks don't deceive. I barely got them out, you know." Shane said.

"I can't tell how grateful I am to you, Shane. I can't begin to express it." Rick said to which Shane smiled.

"There go those words from failing short again. Paltry things." Dale said.

At the other fireplace, Ed throwed another log in the fire, which Shane didn't fail to notice, "Hey, Ed. You want to rethink that log?"

"It's cold, man." Ed replied.

"It is but we have rules. The cold don't change them. We should keep our fires low, just embers so we can't be seen from the distance, right?" Shane added.

"I said it's cold. You should mind your own business for once." Ed said back.

Shane finally had enough of Ed's behaviour. They got up from the ground and walked over to Ed's fire, "Hey Ed... are you sure you want to have this conversation, man?"

"Go on." Ed said as he looked at his wife, "Pull the damn thing out. Go on!"

"Christ." Shane said as Carol pulled the log out of the fire. He quickly stomped the flames out, much to Ed's irritation, as he glanced over at Carol and Sophia, "Hey, Carol, Sophia. How are you this evening?"

"We're fine." Carol said as Sophia nodded in agreement, "Sorry about the fire."

"No. No. No apology needed. Y'all have a good night, okay?" Shane told them.

"Thank you." Carol said in response.

"Appreciate the cooperation, Ed." Shane said, sarcastically to Ed as he walked back to the camp fire.

"Maybe we should finally talk about what we're going to tell younger Dixon about his brother?" Chris spoke up, finally bringing this topic up.

"We should just tell him what happened on that roof." Courtney stated.

"That's sound so great. We just walk over to him once he'll return from the hunt with Duncan and Izzy and tell him that you left him in a city filled with those things." Noah said, sarcasm was obvious in his voice, "This is surely going to end well."

"His brother was a danger to all of us." Courtney said, sending a look to Noah, "He beat up T-Dog just a moment before we handcuffed him."

"And then you left him to die. I don't know about you guys, but I don't want to deal with angry Dixon." Noah stated.

"I'm with Noah on this one. I can't stand Merle just as much everyone else in this place does, but leaving someone to die on the roof just because we don't like him is just wrong." Bridgette said.

"Is this like we'd left Heather because we don't like her?" Lindsay asked Tyler, raising her brow at him.

''Excuse me, blondie? Are you comparing me to Dixon?" Heather said, looking and sounding offended that someone compared her to this redneck.

Seeing that the argument was about to start, T-Dog spoke up, to stop it from happening, "I'll tell him. I dropped the key. It's on me.''

"I cuffed him." Rick pointed out, "That makes it mine."

''Guys, it's not a competition. I don't mean to bring race into this, but it might sound better coming from a white guy." Glenn pointed out.

''I did what I did. Hell if I'm gonna hide from him. I was scared and I ran. I'm not ashamed of it." T-Dog said.

"We were all scared, sugar." Leshawna pointed out.

"We all were trapped there with you, T-Dog. You don't need to blame yourself for it." Bridgette added.

"What's your point?" Andrea asked him.

T-Dog bit his lips as he started, '' I stopped long enough to chain that door. Staircase is narrow. Maybe half a dozen geeks can squeeze against it at any one time. It's not enough to break through that... Not that chain, not that padlock. My point... Dixon's alive and he's still up there, handcuffed on that roof. That's on us.''

* * *

Rick woke up the next morning from his slumber, looking around his tent to see his son and wife missing. He went outside, and started to talk around the camp, passing by a few campers, who offered him quick "Mornings" and "Hellos", to which he offered them quick greets in return as he stopped by Carol when he noticed her doing something with his clothes.

"Morning." He greeted her.

"Morning." She greeted him back, "They're still a little damp. The sun'll have 'em dry in no time."

''You washed my clothes?" He asked her.

"Well, best we could. Scrubbing on a washboard ain't half as good as my old maytag back home." Carol explained.

''That's very kind. Thank you." He thanked her as he turned away from her, just a moment before spotting something out of corner of his eye. He saw Tyler and Glenn standing in front of the sport car they took yesterday from Atlanta, looking angrily at Jim, Morales, Dale, and Chef.

When he approached the duo, Glenn told him, "Look at 'em. Vultures."

"Yeah, go on, strip it clean." Tyler added.

''Generators need every drop of fuel they can get, soldier." Chef expained.

"Got no power without it. Sorry, guys." Dale added.

''Thought I'd get to drive it at least a few more days." Glenn said.

"I could take Lindsay for a drive in this car. She'd love it." Tyler added, looking down.

Rick gave them both a quick pats on their shoulders, "Maybe we'll get to steal another one someday.''

Shane came, driving up into the camp in his jeep, before the owner of this vehicle declared, "Water's here y'all!"

"Oh, great. I'm thirsty!" Owen said, approaching the jeep, with intention of taking a sip, or two, or more of the water that Shane just brought.

"Just remember to boil it before you use it, big guy. You remember what happened last time." Shane reminded Owen.

Suddenly, the group heard screams of Carl and Sophia. Rick, Shane, Chef, Chris, Tyler, Harold, Alejandro, Dale, Glenn, Morales and Jim started running in their direction. As they were running, Carl, Sophia and Jacqui ran out to the rest of the camp. They stumbled upon the threat which was a walker eating a deer with arrows in it. The men started beating it down until Dale chopped it's head off with an axe.

"It's the first one we had here." Chris stated, taking a breath, still getting used to it, to which the group nodded their heads in agreement.

"You're right. They never come this far up the mountain." Dale agreed.

''They've been perfectly fine with staying in the city, what brought him here?" Tyler asked.

"They're running out of food in the city, that's what." Chef stated as they heard a few snaps and footsteps coming their way. They all had their weapons in ready, in case if it was another walker but it turned out to be Daryl Dixon, Duncan, and Izzy, all three of them coming back from his hunt.

"Is this some kind of joke?" Duncan shouted, angrily, as he glanced down at the deer. A bow was wrapped around his body.

"Son of a bitch! That's our deer!" The younger Dixon said as he started kicking the headless corpse to take out his anger, "Look at it! All gnawed on by this flithy, disease bearing, motherless poxy bastard!"

''You have no idea how long we've been following this guy!" Duncan added, as he started kicking the deer as well.

"I did told you to take care of him when we saw him." Izzy pointed out.

"Calm down, both of you." Dale said to Daryl and Duncan, "This isn't helping."

Duncan looked up at Dale, "What do you know about it, old man? Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to "on golden pond"?"

'We've been tracking this deer for miles. Gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison..." Daryl said as he pointed at the part of the deer that was bitten by the walker,, "What do you think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?"

"I wouldn't try that, soldier. Too much risk." Chef shook his head.

Daryl sighed, "That's a damn shame.''

"Each of us got a few squirrels." Izzy said, gesturing towards a pair of squirrels tied into her back.

"It's still better than nothing." Harold stated.

The chopped head of the walker opened it's eyes and started opening and closing it mouth.

"Oh my god." Amy said, standing behind with Andrea, Bridgette, Cody, Sierra, Lindsay said, as she looked away from the scenery, Andrea, Bridgette and Lindsay doing the same.

Cody was about to do the same, until he found himself getting embraced by Sierra, "Don't worry, Cody. He won't get you."

"Come on, people. What the hell?" Daryl said as he shoot a bolt into the walker head, killing it, before pulling the bolt out, "It's gonna be the brain. Don't y'all know nothing?"

The group made they way back in the camp. Daryl, Izzy and Duncan was in the front of the group as Owen ran up to them, and embraced Izzy tigtly, clearly rejoiced to see her again, "Izzy! You're back."

Izzy laughed, as she hugged her boyfriend back, "It's good to see you too, big guy!"

Duncan walked through the camp, DJ and Gwen offering him quick greets, until he came across Courtney who offered him a quick hug.

"Merle! Merle!" Daryl started calling for his brother, looking around the camp, "Get your ugly ass out here! I got us some squirrel! Let's stew'em up!"

''Daryl, just slow up a bit. I need to talk to you." Shane said to the younger Dixon who turned to him in response.

"About what?" He asked him.

''About Merle. There was a... There was a problem in Atlanta." Shane answered.

"He's dead?" Daryl assumed, as the whole camp started to gather around him.

''We're not sure." Shane replied.

''He either is or he ain't!" Daryl shouted..

"No easy way to say this, so I'll just say it." Rick said, approaching Daryl.

Daryl turned to him, "Who are you?"

''Rick Grimes." Rick introduced himself to him.

"Rick Grimes, you got something you want to tell me?" Daryl asked him.

"Your brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there." Rick explained.

"Hold on. Let me process this. You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you _left_ him there?!" Daryl asked, wanting to be sure if he didn't misheard it.

Rick confirmed it with a nod of his head, "Yeah."

Daryl stared at Rick for a moment, like his mind was trying to process this information, before he leaped forward with intention of attacking Rick, but Shane was able to come up behind him and put him in a chokehold, making Daryl shout, "You'd best let me go!"

''Nah,I think it's better if I don't." Shane stated.

"Choke hold's illegal." Daryl stated.

"You can file a complaint. Come on, man. We'll keep this up all day." Shane told him.

T-Dog who just walked into the camp, carrying a few pieces of wood in his hands saw what was happening with Daryl, as Rick kneeled down, looking straight at the younger Dixon, "I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic. Do you think we can manage that? Do you think we can manage that?''

It took Daryl a few moments to finally reply, "Mmm. Yeah."

Shane let go off Daryl as Rick told him, "W hat I did was not on a whim. Your brother does not work and play well with others."

''It's not Rick's fault." T-Dog said as Daryl looked up at the black skinned man, "I had the key. I dropped it."

''You couldn't pick it up?" Daryl wanted to know.

"Well, I dropped it in a drain." T-Dog answered.

Daryl stood up from the ground, his eyes not leaving T-Dog, "If it's supposed to make me feel better, it don't.''

''Well, maybe this will. Look, I chained the door to the roof... So the geeks couldn't get at him... With a padlock." T-Dog explained.

''It's gotta count for something." Rick stated.

"Hell with all y'all! Just tell me where he is so that I can go get him.'' Daryl said, looking like he was about to cry.

"He'll show you. Isn't that right?" Lori said, looking over at her husband.

"I'm going back." Rick said. Lori shook her head and went into the RV while everyone else went back to their business.

* * *

A few moments later Rick came out of his tent, dressed in his sheriff's uniform ready to head out to Atlanta.

"So, that's it, huh?" He heard Shane ask him, "You're just gonna walk off? Just to hell with everybody else?"

"I'm not saying to hell with anybody. Not you, Shane, not Lori, least of all." Rick said back.

"Tell her that." Shane told his best friend, referring to Lori.

"She knows." Rick said.

"Well, look, I... I don't, okay, Rick? So could you just... Could you throw me a bone here, man? Could you just tell me why? Why would you risk your life for a douche bag like Merle Dixon?" Shane asked.

''Hey,choose your words more carefully.'' Daryl told Shane, walking over.

''No, I did. Douche bag's what I meant. Merle Dixon...The guy wouldn't give you a glass of water if you were dying of thirst." Shane said.

"What he would or wouldn't do doesn't interest me. I can't let a man die of thirst... me. Thirst and exposure. We left him like an animal caught in a trap. That's no way for anything to die, let alone a human being." Rick said back.

''So you and Daryl,that's your big plan?" Lori asked her husband as he turned before turning his attention to Glenn.

"Oh, come on." Glenn said, knowing that Rick wanted him to come with him.

"You know the way, you've been there before in and out, no problem." Rick pointed out.

"Great. Now you're gonna risk you and Glenn?" Shane asked.

"Glenn, and me. I'm going to." T-Dog said.

"I think I should go to. I've been in a part of many runs to Atlanta after it fell. I've grown to know this city really well." Chef said.

"If our favourite Chef is going then I think I'll be more than happy to go too." Duncan said, Chef letting out an annoyed sigh at how the juvie called him.

"I appreciate your help." Rick said.

"That's six." Dale stated.

Daryl huffed, cleaning his arrows, "My day just gets better and better,don't it?''

''You see anybody else here stepping up to save your brother's cracker ass?" T-Dog asked him.

"Why you?" Daryl asked him.

"You wouldn't even begin to understand. You don't speak my language." T-Dog said in response

"It's just six. You're putting every single one of us at risk. Just know that, Rick. You saw that walker, we all did. They're moving out of the cities. They come back, we need every able body we've got. We need them here to protect the camp." Shane said.

"It seems to me what you really need here, are more guns." Rick pointed out.

"Right, the guns." Glenn said in realization.

"Wait. What guns?" Shane asked.

"Six shotguns, two high-powered rifles, over a dozen of handguns. I cleaned out the cage back at the station before I left. The bag fell out of the Humvee after I and Dan went to safe people who were on the roof. It's just sitting there on the street, waiting to be picked up." Rick replied.

"Ammo?" Shane asked.

"700 rounds." Rick replied.

"If you're going to get some guns, then I think you should take me too." Harold said, as everyone looked over at him, "I've been attending many camps where they taught us how to use guns. I may be useful."

"Are you serious right now, Doris?" Duncan asked him, looking like he was about to laugh, conviced that Harold was not serious about joining them.

Harold glared at Duncan, clenching his fists, "Yes, I am." He turned over to Rick, "Let me come with you. I'm good at shooting, I may be useful once we'll get those guns."

Rick nodded his head at him, "That makes us seven."

"Thank you. I promise you won't regret taking me with you." Harold said, offering Rick a grateful smile.

"You went through hell to find us. You just got here and you're gonna turn around and leave?" Lori asked her husband.

"Dad, I don't want you to go." Carl said.

"To hell with the gun?" Lori asked as Rick walked closer to her.

"I owe a debt to a man I met and his little boy, Lori, If they hadn't taken me in, I'd have died. It's because of them that I made it back to you. They said they'd follow me to Atlanta. They'll walk into the herd If I don't warn them." He said to his wife.

"What's stopping you?" Lori asked.

"The walkie-talkie, the one I had in the bag I dropped. He's got the other one. Our plan was to connect, when they got closer." Rick replied.

"These are our walkies?" Shane asked.

"Yeah." Rick replied.

"So use the C.B." Andrea stated, 'What's wrong with that?"

''The CB's fine. It's the walkies that suck to crap... Date back to the '70s, don't match any other bandwidth... Not even the scanners in our cars." Shane explained.

"I need that bag." Rick said to Lori who has no choice but to let him go. He nodded as Rick walked up to his son and kneeled down in front of him, "Okay?" He asked as Carl nodded again.

A few moments later, Rick, Chef, Duncan, Glenn, T-Dog, Harold and Daryl got themselves ready for their mission in Atlanta and left the camp in the truck.

* * *

Owen, Izzy, Noah and Ezekiel were all sitting on a small beach before the lake, trying to catch some fishes for the dinner. Owen has been know to know how to catch a fish since the first season of Total Drama, and suprisingly Ezekiel also knew how to do it as well, saying that his dad taught him that when he lived on the farm. Izzy was there with them because she just went back from hunting and wanted to spend some time with Owen, and as for Noah, he didn't really had an experience with catching fish, so he just tagged along with them.

They weren't the only ones who were spending their time by the talke at this moment.

Lindsay, Bridgette, Andrea, Amy, Jacqui and Carol were washing clothes in the lake. Shane was teaching Carl how to catch frogs, Tyler was leaning against the tree as he watched the surroudings from the spot he had been assigned by Shane, in order to prevent situation they had with the walker in the forest. Ed was also present, but unlike any of them, he just was leaning against his truck and smoking cigarrete.

Ezekiel glanced over at Lori who approached Shane who was splashing some water at Carl and made them stop what they were doing. She then said something to Carl, making him leave, and started talking with Shane about something that quickly escalated into an argument.

"What happened between between these two, eh?" He asked Owen, Izzy and Noah, this was the first time when he saw these two argue about something.

"What do you mean, Zeke?" Owen asked as he turned in the direction of Shane and Lori to see them arguing about something, "Oh, what are they arguing about?"

"It's probably because Lori's husband turned out to be alive and these two were getting together." Noah said, not taking his eyes off his book.

"What are you talking about?" Izzy asked, turning to Noah.

"Neither of you saw the way they were looking at each other? It was obvious something was going on between them." Noah pointed out, all three of them shook their heads in response.

Noah let out an "Oh" in response as he proceeded to read his book, until Ezekiel noticed one of the lines pull tight, "We got one, eh!"

The women were still washing the clothes in the lakes, as Andrea out of boredom tried to start a conversation with them, "I miss my gun and knife."

"I miss my coffee maker with built filter and grinder." Jacqui said.

"I miss surfing." Bridgette said.

"I miss texting." Amy said.

"I miss going shopping. So many beautiful clothes and lip grosses are going to waste right now." Lindsay said, shaking her head.

"I miss my vibrator." Andrea said, causing every woman to look at her. They all gave her a funny look and smiled, some of them trying to themselves from laughing.

"Me too." Carol said. This time, the women couldn't resist. They bursted into laughter, which caused Ed to walk up to them.

"What's so funny.?" Ed asked.

"Nothing. We were just exchanging stories." Andrea replied.

"Is there a problem?" Amy asked.

"Nothing that concerns you." Ed replied, "This is work, not a comedy club."

Andrea let out a long sigh as she glared at Ed, which Bridgette didn't fail to notice, "Andrea. Don't."

"You know what, Ed? You don't like seeing your laudry being done, why don't do it yourself?"

"It's ain't my job." Ed said, throwing his cigarette on the ground.

"Then what is your job? Laying on your ass and smoking cigarettes?" Andrea asked.

"It sure as hell ain't listening to an uppity smart bitches." Ed replied, before turning his attention to Carol, "C'mon, let's go."

"She ain't going nowhere." Andrea said back as Carol took a small step forward, only to be stopped by her and Andrea.

"It ain't for you to decide." Ed said, glaring at her.

"She comes with you and what happens then?" Bridgette asked, "She comes back with new bruises?"

"Yes, Ed. We all see them." Jacqui added.

"Hey Ed!" Tyler's voice sounded in their ears as all of them turned in his direction, "What are you doing here? Maybe you should leave them alone and let them work?"

"It ain't your business." Ed told him, turning his glare to Tyler.

"I guess it is, Shane told me to keep an eye at any possible trouble around this place, and you seem to be causing trouble, so I came." Tyler pointed out, crossing his arms.

"What are you, Shane's lap dog or something like that?" Ed asked him.

"At least I'm doing something for this camp. I'm going on supply runs, risking my life to have some food which then goes to your belly, even though you were doing nothing for all the time we spent in this camp." Tyler said.

Ed gritted his teeth in anger, it seemed like Tyler had crossed the line. He swung his fist at him, knocking the teenager down on the ground.

"Tyler!" Lindsay shouted, hurrying towards her boyfriend's side.

"You seem like a sportish type, but the truth is far away from that." Ed said, before grabbing Carol's arm. As the other women started to resist, he slapped his wife in the cheek, before Shane grabbed him from behind. The women started to cheer Carol up as Shane began to beat Ed in order to teach him a lesson. Tyler who looked up from the ground at what Shane was doing to Ed didn't feel any pity for him. Ed had his coming for a long time, and someone finally had to teach him a lesson.

After several punches, Shane decided that Ed had enough if it. Shane punched him one last time, before saying to him, "You put your hands on your wife, or daughter, or anybody else in this camp I will not stop understand. Do you hear me?"

"Yes..." Ed said weakly.

"Well, I hope you did." Shane said, before leaving Ed alone. Carol ran up to her husband and started apologizing him as Shane started to return to the camp.

* * *

Rick, Glenn, Daryl, T-Dog, Chef, Duncan and Harold had arrived in Atlanta and were making their way up the stairs into the roof where they left Merle. T-Dog cut the chain that was preventing walkers from getting to Merle, opening the door, as the group rushed into the roof.

"Merle!" Daryl called over to his brother, but much to his horror Merle was not here, "No! Merle! No!"

On the ground, was laying a hacksaw and Merle's hand.

* * *

**I can't wait to write Merle in season 3, he's one of my favourites characters in this entire show that was killed off way to soon, and for writing the relation between Duncan and Harold as it is going to drastically change over the course of the story.**


	4. Vatos

**Suprise! Two chapters in two days!**

* * *

All seven people that went to Atlanta stared at Merle's Dixon severed hand until Daryl finally snapped at the sight of his brother's hand and aimed his crossbow and T-Dog. letting out a scream of anger. Rick quickly pulled out his Python and aimed at the younger Dixon before anything could happen.

''I won't hesitate. I don't care if every walker in the city hears it." He told him.

Daryl knew that Rick wasn't joking and lowered his crossbow, "You got a do-rag or something?''

"Here." Harold said, handing Daryl one do-rag.

Daryl kneeled down before the hand and picked it up, '' I guess the saw blade was too dull for the handcuffs. Ain't that a bitch.'' He walked over to Gleen and hid the hank in the asian's man backpack, which of course made Glenn really uncomfortable, "He must have used a tourniquet... maybe his belt. Be much more blood if he didn't."

"Maybe he can be still here." Chef stated.

"What are you talking about, cook?" Daryl asked him.

Chef glared at Daryl for calling him "cook" as he gestured towards a trail of blood on the ground, "We may still find him."

T-Dog got the tool box they got from Dale back in the camp before they left to Atlanta, before the group followed the trail of blood which lead them to a set of the stairs. As they started to walk down the stairs, Duncan asked, "Hey, old man, are you here?"

He got no answer, which probably would be an insult from Merle for calling him "Old Man" as the group proceeded to walk down the stairs, the trail of blood eventually lead them to a office room where they spotted a dead walker on the floor, to which Daryl commented, "Had enough in him to take out these two sumbitches. One handed. Toughest asshole I ever met, my brother. Feed him a hammer, he'd crap out nails.''

''Any man can pass out from blood loss, no matter how tough he is." Harold stated.

"Then you'd pass out immediately, Doris." Duncan laughed.

Harold glared at Duncan, but decided to remain silent and focus on the mission.

"Merle!" Daryl called out for his brother.

"We're not alone here. Remember?" Rick reminding him to be silent was the only answer he got.

''Screw that. He could be bleeding out. You said so yourself." Daryl pointed out.

The group continued to walk for a moment, not finding anything that could tell them about current location of Merle until they came across a kitchen, where a stove was still ignited and Merle's belt sitting on the top of it.

''What's that burned stuff?" Glenn asked.

"It's his skin." Chef answered, glacing down at the burned pieces of skin.

"He cauterized the stump." Rick stated.

''Told you he was tough. Nobody can kill Merle but Merle." Daryl stated.

"I wouldn't take on faith if I were you. From what we've seen, it is certain that he's lost a lot of blood." Harold pointed out.

"It still It didn't stop him from leaving this building." Duncan stated, gesturing towards a broken window he just spotted, it was pretty obvious to him who broke it.

''He left the building? Why the hell would he do that?" Glenn asked.

''Why wouldn't he? He's out there alone as far as he knows, doing what he's got to do. Surviving." Daryl stated.

''You call that surviving? Just wandering out in the streets, maybe passing out? What are his odds out there?" T-Dog said.

"No worse than being handcuffed and left to rot by you sorry pricks." Daryl retorted, "You couldn't kill him. Ain't so worried about some dumb dead bastards."

''What about 1,000 dumb dead bastards? Different story?" Rick said.

''Why don't you take a tally? Do what you want. I'm gonna go get him." Daryl said, as he started to walk towards broken window.

"Daryl wait!" Rick said, pushing him back.

''Get your hands off me! You can't stop me." Daryl told him.

''I don't blame you. He's family, I get that. I went through hell to find mine. I know exactly how you feel. He can't get far with that injury. We could help you check a few blocks around but only if we keep a level head." Rick said, trying to convice Daryl not to risk going through the streets.

"I can do that." Daryl said to him in response.

"I think that at first we should get those guns you mentioned." Chef stated.

"I'm not strolling the streets of Atlanta with just my good intentions, okay?" T-Dog added, nodding his head in agreement.

* * *

Everyone was minding their own business when Amy and Andrea walked in, carrying fished that they caught while fishing at the lake.

"We're eating good tonight!" Chris exclaimed, approaching the two sisters.

"Will you look at that? Hey, check it out." Morales said as Andrea handed him one chain of fishes, "Ladies, because of you my children will eat tonight. Thank you."

"Thanks Dale. It was his canoe and gear." Andrea said.

"Mom. Look at the fish." Carl said.

"Thank you." Lori said.

"Where did you learn to do that?" Gwen asked.

"Our dad." Amy replied.

"Could you teach me how to do that?" Carl asked.

"Sure. I'll teach you all about nail knots and stuff." Amy replied, before turning to Lori, "If that's okay."

"You won't catch me arguing." Lori replied.

"And just wait for Owen, Zeke, Izzy and Noah to return. We saw them catch a few fishes as well." Andrea said.

''It will be a real treat tonight." Leshawna stated, rubbing her hands together, a smile was on her face.

"Of course if Owen won't eat them at first." Heather stated. Everyone rolled their eyes at her rude comment

"You just can't help yourself, do you?" Gwen asked, glaring at Heather as Dale approached the group.

"Dale, when was the last time you oiled those line reels? They are a disgrace." Amy asked the eldery man.

Not answering to her question, Dale said, "We don't want to alarm anyone, but we may have a bit of problem."

"What is it?" Sierra asked.

"It's Jim." Dale replied as he turned around to point where Jim was. The rest followed their example and turned to see Jim up the hills, digging. The group wanted to know why he was doing that, so they walked up the hill to talk with him.

"So, what are you digging?" Shane asked.

"What does it matter? I'm not hurting anyone?" Jim asked as he kept digging.

"Yeah, except maybe yourself. It's a hundred degrees today. You can't keep this up." Dale said.

"Sure I can. Watch me." Jim said.

"Jim. They're not gonna say it so I will. You're scaring people." Lori said, "You're scaring my son and Carol's daughter."

"They got nothing to be scared of." Jim said as Carl and Sophia stood next to Carol, "I mean, what the hell people? I'm out here by myself. Why don't you just all go back and leave me the hell alone?"

"We think you need a break. Why don't you go and get yourself in shade? Some food maybe. I'll tell you what maybe in a little bit I'll come out here and help you myself. Just tell what is it about. Why don't you just go ahead and give me the shovel?" Shane asked.

"Or what?" Jim asked as he stopped digging.

"There is no "or what". I'm asking you. I'm coming to you and I'm asking you, please. I don't want to have to take it from you." Shane explained.

"And if I don't, then what? Then you're gonna beat my face like you did to Ed Peletier?" Jim asked, "Y'all seen his face. What's left of it. See, that happens when someone crosses you."

"That was different Jim." Bridgette spoke up, "You weren't there. Ed was hurting his wife. He also punched Tyler for telling him to leave us alone. He was out of control."

"That's their marriage! Not his or yours, kid!" Jim argued.

"Jim. I'm not here to argue with you, all right? Just give me the shovel." Shane said as he tried to grab the shovel.

"No, no, no." Jim said as he pushed Shane, before swinging the shovel at him. Shane ducked, then Alejandro stepped forward and tacked him to the ground, "Hey kid! You got no right!"

"Jim, just stop. Nobody's gonna hurt you. You hear me?" Shane told Jim.

"That's a lie. That's the biggest lie there is. I told that to my wife and my two boys. I said to hundred times. It didn't matter. They came out of nowhere. They were dozen's of them, Just pulled them off my hands. You know the only read I got away was cause they were too busy eating my family." Jim explained.

* * *

"You're not doing this alone." Rick said to Glenn.

"It's too dangerous for one person." Chef agreed with Rick. Going out there alone would be too dangerous even for him.

"Even I think it's a bad idea and I don't even like you much." Daryl added.

"It is a good idea. Just hear me out." Glenn insisted.

"We should listen him out, then we will discuss if this is a good idea or not." Harold said, earning a grateful smile from Glenn, "Go on."

"If we got out there with a group, we're slow, drawing attention. If I'm along I can move fast." Glenn began explaining, "Look. That's the tank, five blocks from where we are now." He put a large blinder clip in place on the map, "That's the bag of guns." He put a smaller ball of crumped up paper next to it, "Here's the alley I and Dave dragged Rick and Dan when we first met." He said, pointing at the place, "That's where I and Daryl will go."

"Why me?" Daryl asked.

"Your crossbow is quieter than our guns." Glenn replied.

"Maybe you should take someone else with you. After all, there's seven of us to take and you'll taking only one." Chef pointed out, to which everyone seemed to agreed.

"Duncan has a bow, it is as quiet as Daryl's crossbow." T-Dog pointed out.

"No. I've got something else planned for the rest of you. You will be in this alley here." Glenn said, setting a pink eraser on the place.

"Two blocks away, why?" Rick asked.

"I may not be able to come back the same way. Walkers might cut me off. If that happens, I won't go back to Daryl, I'll go forward instead, all the way around to that alley where you guys are. Whichever direction I go, I got you in both places to cover me. Afterwards, we'll all meet back here." Glenn finished explaining.

"Hey, Glenny, what did you do before all of this?" Duncan asked.

"Delivered pizzas. Why?" Glenn asked.

* * *

Jim was tied up to a tree as Shane and DJ came up to him with a bucket of water, "Yo, Jim. I and Shane thought you might be thirsty so we brought you some water."

"All right." Jim said as Shane poured some water into the cup that DJ was holding before the teenager handed it to Jim, "Can you pour some on my head?"

"Sure." Shane replied as he poured the water on Jim's head.

"Thanks, so how long are you going to keep me like this?" Jim wanted to know.

"Until we don't think you're a danger to yourself and others." Shane replied to which Jim nodded his head,

"Jim, do you know why were you digging?" DJ asked what was on the minds of pretty much everyone in the camp.

"I had a reason. I don't remember but it was something I dreamt last night." Jim replied.

* * *

Glenn and Daryl quickly climbed down the ladder into the alley while Rick, T-Dog, Chef, Duncan and Harold hurried in their way to the their own position two blocks away.

"You got some balls for a Chinaman." Daryl commented as he pumped with an arrow in ready as Glenn removed his outer plaid shirt, balled it up and throwed it aside.

"I"m Korean." Glenn corrected him.

"Whatever." Daryl said with a shrug of his shoulders, before the Asian man rushed onto the streets and sneakily passed by walkers as the young hispanic boy came from behind younger Dixon.

"Whoa! Don't hurt me! What do you want?" The boy asked as Daryl aimed his crossbow at him.

"I was gonna ask the same thing. And why are you here?" Daryl demanded to know, not lowering his crossbow.

''Ayudame!" The boy suddenly shouted towards the street behind the younger Dixon.

"Shut up! You're gonna bring the walkers on us! Answer me!" Daryl ordered as Glenn reached the bag and picked it up from the street, before he started to make his way back to Daryl.

"Ayudame!" The boy shouted again.

Rick, Chef, Harold, Duncan and T-Dog heard the scream from their position and started running towards the back entrance of Daryl's alley.

"Ayudame!" They boy kept shouting, "Ayudame!"

''Shut up!" Daryl told him to shush as he swung his crossbow and punched the kid in his face, sending him backwards. He started to scream again, but his mouth was muffled by Daryl putting his hand on the kid's mouth. Suddenly, the two guy came out of nowhere and kicked Daryl off him. One of them started kicking him as the other one hit him a few times with a baseball ball, before joining his fellow survivor in kicking Daryl.

Glenn ran into the alley to see Daryl being beated by two other men. He started to take a few steps backwards, slowly as the man with the baseball bat spotted him.

"That's it! That's the bag! Take him!" He shouted, before he and his fellow survivor. They caught Glenn as he was about to run off and started kicking him, before car approached them. Daryl shot one of them in the butt, as they placed Glenn and the bag in the car, then they drove away.

"Come back! You son of the bitches!" Daryl shouted after them as the rest came running down the alley.

* * *

"Those men you were with, we need to know where they went." Rick said to the kid as they group was back in the building where they planned their action of the getting the bag back.

''I ain't telling nothing." The kid replied, as he wiped a bit blood off the corner of his mouth.

"What the hell even happened back there?" Duncan asked, turning to Daryl.

''This little turd and his friends came out of the nowhere and jumped me" Daryl explained.

"You're the one who jumped me, puto." The kid said to Daryl.

"They took Glenn. Could have taken Merle too." Daryl pointed out.

''Merle? What kind of hick name is that? I wouldn't name my dog Merle" The kid said, looking at Daryl, who was about to attack him after he said those words but Chef held him back.

"Back off, soldier." He said to Daryl, "At first he has to tell us where they took Glenn.

Daryl groaned as he went over to the bag and pulled out Merle's hand, ""Want to see what happened to the last guy that pissed me off?'' He threw the hand towards kid who immediately jumped off his seat at the view of severed hand landing in his lap, as Daryl leaned down to tell him something, "Start with the feet this time.''

"The men you were with took our friend. All we want to is talk with them, see if we can work something out." Rick explained to the freaked out kid, who nodded his head. They spent the next minutes talking about where their hideout was and how to get there.

Rick had the kid leading them through the streets. They made their way to the brick building. Rick looked around the wall they were hiding behind towards the building. He didn't see anyone outside, but someone could have been inside.

"You sure you're up to this?" Rick asked T-Dog, who was standing across the building from him, holding a rifle at the other side of the broken window they were looking through.

"Yeah." T-Dog said, nodding his head at him.

''Okay." Rick said.

"What about you, Doris?" Duncan asked Harold, cocking a shotgun that was given to him by Rick.

Harold sighed as he glanced down at the shotgun he was carrying, "I'm ready."

"Alright." Duncan said.

"One wrong move, you get an arrow in the ass. Just so you know." Daryl said to the kid, looking at him.

''G's gonna take that arrow out and shove it up yours. Just so you know." The kid said back, causing Rick who was kneeling against the wall to look at him.

''G?" He asked the boy.

"Guillermo. He's the man there." The kid replied.

"Okay." Rick said, as he cocked his shotgun, "Let's go see him."

He looked at the younger from the Dixon brothers, Duncan, Harold and Chef and stood up from his kneeling position. The kid rised up from the ground and followed him, with a kick in the butt from Daryl. Rick made his way through the broken bars that once were over the window to the courtyard they were walking into. Rick climbed through. followed by the kid who was followed by Duncan, Chef, Harold and Daryl, then he motioned for the boy to walk in front of him. All of them had their weapons raised as the boy lead them through the yard and to the large, wooden double doors at the back of the brick building, which were opened soon after and several men walked through them.

"You okay, little man?" The hispanic man, who they assumed to be Guillermo asked.

"They're gonna cut off my feet, carnal." The kid replied.

Guillermo looked at Rick as he said, "Cops do that?" Then he looked at Duncan and Harold, "Or teenagers?" Then at Chef, "Or cooks?"

''Not them. These redneck puto here." The kid said, as he pointed behind him to right at Daryl, before turning back to Guillermo.

"Shut up." Daryl told kid to shush as the two men made their way out of the building. He recognized one of them.

"Hey, that's the vato who shot me in the ass with an arrow, man." He stated, as he came up to Guillermo's side and aimed his revolver at Daryl.

"Chill, ese, chill, chill." Guillermo said, before putting his hand on the man's revolver and lowering it.

''We were hoping for a calm discussion." Rick said.

"That hillbilly jumps Felipie's little cousin, beats on him, threatens to put an arrow in his ass, like he did to Felipe and you except a calm discussion?" Guillermo stated.

"Heat of the moment. Mistakes were made on both sides." Chef said, standing by Rick side, "We're just here to get our man back.''

"Who's this dude, anyway? You don't look related." Guillermo asked.

"He's one of our group, more or less. Maybe you have a few like him." Rick said, gesturing towards men behind Guillermo.

''Sorry, we're fresh out of white boys. But I got asian. Interested?" Guillermo asked another question.

"I have one of yours, and you have one of mine. How about a trade?" Rick wanted to know.

"Don't sound even to me." Guillermo stated.

"G. Come on man?" The kid pleaded.

''My people got attacked. Where's the compensation for the pain and suffering? More to the point, where's my bag of guns?" Guillermo demanded to know.

"Guns?" Rick said.

"The bag Miguel saw in the street. The bag Felipe and Jorge were going to get." Guillermo explained.

"You're mistaken." Rick stated.

"I don't think so." Guillermo said back.

''About it being yours. It's our bag of guns." Duncan said as he stood by Chef's side, "Mr Cop here got it from his town."

"The bag was in the street. Anybody could come around and say it was theirs. I'm supposed to take your word? What's to stop my people from onloading on you right there and now and I take what's mine?" Guillermo as the two men beside him raised their guns at Rick, Duncan, Harold and Chef and Daryl.

''You could do that." Rick said. He looked to his left to the roof of a building that had the view of the courtyard, causing Guillermo to look in the same direction. On top, there was T-Dog and had his rifle aimed at Guillermo, "Or not."

"Either way, we're getting what we want from you." Duncan added.

Guillermo smirked at the group, "Oye!" He shouted, leaning his head up slightly.

Suddenly, the group from Atlanta could see three people making their way to the edge of the roof. One of them happened to be Glenn.

"I see two options. You come back with Miguel and my bag of guns, everybody walks. Or you come back locked and loaded, we'll see which side spills more blood." Guillermo said as he looked up at T-Dog and shot him a smirk, before he and his men began walking back into the building. Rick, Duncan, Harold, Chef and Daryl didn't dropped their weapons, even as they were closing.

* * *

The group made their way into a nearby mechanic shop and were in a small office. Rick set the bag of guns on the desk and unzipped it.

''Them guns are worth more than gold. Gold won't protect your family or put food on the table. You willing to give that up for that kid?" Daryl asked, standing in front of the desk as Rick was checking the handgun to see if it was loaded.

"I knew we'd get Glenn back. I might agree." T-Dog said, leaning against the wall, "But you think that vato across the way is gonna hand him over?"

''You callin G a liar?" Miguel asked, sitting on the floor.

''Are you part of this?" Daryl asked, as he stepped closer to the boy and slapped him across the head, "You wanna hold onto your teeth?"

"Question is, do we should trust this man's words?" Harold asked.

''No. Question is what you're willing to bet on it?" Daryl began, "Could be more than them guns? Could be your life? Glenn worth that to you?"

Rick checked his Python to make sure it was fully loaded, before putting it back in it's holster as he looked at Merle, "What life I have I owe to him. I was nobody to Glenn, just some idiot stuck in a tank. He could have walked away, but he didn't. Neither will I."

''So, you're just gonna hand those guns over?" Duncan asked, "There has to be a way how to get Glenny back without losing our guns.''

''I didn't say that." Rick said, as he looked around the people he was with, "There's nothing keeping all of you here. You should head back to the camp?"

"And what are we going to tell your family?" Chef asked as Harold and T-Dog nodded in agreement, then Rick looked at Duncan and Daryl. The redneck and juvie nodded their heads as well.

"Come on, this is nuts." Miguel said as everyone started to prepare themselves for the confrontation with Guillermo. He tried to stand up but he was quickly stopped when Daryl turned around and pointed at him, causing him to sink back down on the floor, "Just do what G says."

No one listened to him, they continued preparing themselves, as they were checking if the guns from the bag were fully loaded. They each grabbed guns what guns they could carry and loaded the rest back in the bag before putting a gag in Miguel's face and tying his hands together.

They made their way back to the yard once again, with Miguel leading them. Only this time, he was bound and gagged and Daryl had a shotgun held at the center of kid's back, pushing him forward. T-Dog and Chef were on his left as Rick, Harold and Duncan were on his right. They were stopped in front of the doors before they heard the locks being undone and the door opening. Daryl pushed Miguel inside when they were opened all the way, then the group came in.

They went to middle of the room and were surrounded by the men as Guillermo walked in to greet them.

"I see my guns, but they're not in the bag." He pointed out.

"That's because they're not yours. Cop here mentioned that as I recall." Duncan reminded Guillermo.

''Let's just shot these fools down, ese." Felipe said, standing by Guillermo's side.

"I don't think you fully appreciate the gravity of the situation.'' Guillermo stated.

"No. We're pretty clear." Rick said as he lowered his shotgun, before pulling out a pocket knife. He cut the rope that was holding Miguel's hands together and pushed his forward to Guillermo, "You have your man. I want mine."

"I'm gonna chop up your boy." Guillermo said, stepping closer to Rick, "I'm gonna fed him to my dogs. They're the evilest, nastiest man eating bitches you ever saw. I picked them up from Satan's yard sale. I told you how it has to be. Are you deaf?"

''No, my hearings fine. You said come locked and loaded." Rick pointed out, as they group cocked their weapons and aimed them at different man in the room. Rick had his shotgun pointed at Guillermo's face, causing all of Guillermo's men to point their guns at them.

A few tense seconds passed, none of them lowering their weapons and it seemed like there was going to be a massacre, but it was interrupted by an eldery woman.

"Felipe! Felipe!" She called for Felipe, coming into the room.

"What?" Duncan whispered to himself, doing his best to hide that he was suprised that an eldey woman just walked in.

" _What is going on here?_ " Harold thought himself, looking to be as much suprised as everyone else from his group.

"Abuela go back with the others, now." Felipe told her.

"Get that lady out of the lone of fire!" Daryl shouted.

"Abuela. Listen to your mijo. This is not a place for you, right now." Guillermo said, glancing behind him at the old lady.

"Mister Gilbert is having trouble breathing." Abuela said, coming up to the front of Felipe and looked at him, "He needs his asthma stuff. Carlito didn't find it. He needs his medicine."

Guillermo looked at Felipe as he said, "Felipe. Go take care of it, okay? And take your grandmother with you."

Felipe started speaking something in Spanish to the older woman, as the tried to lead her out of the room, but then she spotted Rick and the rest.

"Who are those men?" She asked, as he came up to Rick, "Don't you take him.''

"Ma'am?" Rick said, looking down at her.

"Felipe's a good boy. He had his troubles but he pull himself together. We need him here." Abuela said to him.

"Ma'am. We're not here to arrest your grandson." Rick said to her.

"Then what do you want him for?" Abuela wanted to know.

"He's been helping us find our missing friend. A fella named Glenn." Rick said.

''The Asian boy? He's with Mr Gilbert. Come I show you." Abuela said, grabbing Rick's hand and leading his past Guillermo.

Guillermo sighed as Rick walked past him. He looked around at his men, "Let them pass."

All of Guillermo's men lowered their guns as Rick's group followed him. Abuela led them through the building that looked like a garage and back outside. They passed through small courtyard and went up to a small fleet of concrete stairs before she led them around the side of another building. They walked through the front doors of something that looked like a hospital. As they were passing each room, they could see many old people.

"Abuela, por favor. Take me to him." Felipe said, coming up to Rick's side. She let go of Rick's hand as they continued to walk down the halfway with Felipe behind her. Rick looked at one of the room to see a young girl giving an eldery woman a cup of water. They all had their weapons lowered by now. Rick took off his hat as they followed Felipe and his grandmother down the hall.

After a few short moments, they reached cafeteria. A bunch of people were surrouding a man who the old man who must've been Mr Gilbert.

"Alright, alright." Felipe said said to the older man as they got closer, "Nice and easy. Just breathe. Just let it out." He said as he brought the inhaler to the old man's mouth. Regi looked at Glenn who was standing around the people.

"That was a rather unexcepting turn of events." Chef stated.

"What is this?" Duncan asked, still suprised by what just happened. He and others were not excepting this.

"An astma attack." Glenn replied, "Couldn't get his breath all of sudden."

"I thought you were being eaten by dogs, man." T-Dog said, looking at the Asian man.

Glenn looked behind him towards a dog bed. Inside was three small Chihuahuas. The one in the middle barked at them.

"I don't think those dogs would be able to eat him." Harold stated.

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious, Doris." Duncan told him, rolling his eyes.

Rick turned around and looked at Guillermo, "Could I have a word with you?" Guillermo nodded as the group walked away from the crowd of people, "You're the dumbest son of a bitch I've ever met. We walked in there ready to kill every last one of you."

"Well, I'm glad it didn't go down that way." Guillermo said.

"If it had. The blood would be on my hands." Rick stated.

''Mine too. We'd fought back. Wouldn't be the first time we've had to. Protect the food, the medicine, what's left of it. These people, the old ones, the staff took off, just left them here to die." Guillermo said, as Rick looked around the room of people, "Felipe and I are the only ones who stayed."

"What are you? Doctors?" Harold asked, wanting to know who these men were.

"Felipe's a nurse, a special care provider. Me, I'm the custodian." Guillermo replied.

Rick looked at the man for a minute. Guillermo told his group so they could talk in private. They all walked into the room as Guillermo sat down on the arm of a couch. Rick took the bag off his shoulders and set it on the couch next to it.

''What about the rest of your crew?" Chef asked.

''How was I to know? My people got attacked and you show up with Miguel hostage." Guillermo replied.

"Guess the world changed." T-Dog said.

"No. It's the same as it ever was. The weak get taken, so we do what we can here. The vatos work on those cars, talk about getting old people out of the city. But most can't even get to the bathroom by themselves, so that's just a dream. Still, it keeps the crew busy, and that's worth something. So, we barred all the windows, welded all the doors shut except for one entrance. The vatos, they go out, scavenge what they can to keep us going. We watch the perimeter night and day and wait. The people here, they all look to me, now. I don't even know why." Guillermo said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Because they can." Rick said. He was a good judge of character when it came to people, and he could tell this man had a good heart. He was just trying to keep his people safe, just like he was. He handed his shotgun to Guillermo, who took it from him, then Rick started taking out more guns from the bag.

* * *

The sun had been down for a while now, as the group in Atlanta was sitting all around the fire as they were having a dinner, enjoying fishes that were caught by a few of the campers.

"Pass the fish, please." Sophia said.

Carl grabbed the pan of fish and handed it to Sophia, "Here you go."

"Oh, man. That's good." Shane said as he let out a breath and laughed, "I miss this."

"Hey, Owen. I wanted to ask you and Zeke. Who taught you how to catch fish?" Morales asked Owen.

"My grandpa taught me. I even caught a shark once and it bit me in the butt." Owen explained proudly, as everyone stared at him awkwardly, because of the part about the shark, "Do you want to see it?"

Everyone, except for Izzy quickly shook their heads at his offer as Lori said, "Owen, there are kids here."

"Oh... sorry about that." Owen said, rubbing the back of his head, "Didn't think about it."

"Just think before you say something, big fella." Shane said to Owen, offering him a quick smile.

Owen smiled back at Shane and nodded his head at him.

Morales turned over to Ezekiel to change the topic from Owen's butt story, "What about you Zeke?"

"My dad taught me, eh. He's been taking me out to fishing from time time and I eventually learned how to do it." Ezekiel explained.

"You can learn some useful skills when you grow up on a farm, don't you?" Dale asked him.

"You can say that." Ezekiel nodded his head.

"Hey, Dale. I think like I need to ask you about that." Cody said to Dale, "Now seems like a good moment."

Dale titled his head towards her, offering her a smile, "What is it, son?"

"It has something do with your watch." Cody said, causing Dale to glance down at it.

"What's wrong with my watch?" He asked.

"I see you every day, the same time.'' Cody explained.

"That's actually a very good question." Gwen said, noticing it as well.

"It's been bugging me as well." Morales agreed.

''I'm missing the point." Dale said, holding his hands out to his side.

''Unless I've misread the signs, the world seems to have come to an end. At least hit a speed bump for a good long while." Jacqui said.

"But there's always you winding that stupid watch." Morales said.

"Time. It's important to keep track, isn't it? The days at least, don't you think Andrea. Back me up?" Dale said, looking at her. Andrea chuckled, before taking a sip of her beer, as Dale looked at her, "What about you?

"You're alone in this, old man." Andrea smiled at Dale.

''I like I like what, um, a father said to son when he gave him a watch that had been handed down through generations. He said, "I give you the mausoleum" "of all hope and desire," "which will fit your individual needs" "no better than it did mine or my father's before me;" "I give it to you" "not that you may remember time," "but that you may forget it for a moment" "now and then" "and not spend all of your breath trying to conquer it." Dale explained as the others smiled at him.

"You're weird, old man." Heather stated, not hiding that she was weirded out by what Dale just said.

"It's not me. It's Faulker. William Faulker. Maybe my bad paraphrasing." Dale said to Heather.

"If you say so." Heather said.

After a few seconds, Amy set her cup of water down and stood up.

"Where are you going?" Andrea asked her younger sister.

"I need to pee. Jeez, just trying to be discreet around here." Amy explained, rolling her eyes, before making her way into Dale's RV. She walked into the vehicle to get her needs done, and when she stepped out a moment later, she said, "We're out of toilet paper?''

The moment she stepped out of the RV a walker walked right up to her and dug his teeth into her hand, bitting off a piece of flesh. She screamed in pain. Andrea along with everyone from the camp turned around to her and witnessed this and screams. Everyone rised up from the ground and started to scatter around the camp in panic as more and more walkers started appearing in the camp, much of to the horro of terrified campers.

Cody was quickly separated from the group, as he tried fight off a walker that tried to get him, and unfortunely the undead was much stronger than him. He overpowered the brown haired teenager making him fell on the ground. He tried his best to keep the walker's mouth off him. Just as he was losing hope to get out of this alive, Sierra ran over to him and pulled the walker away from Cody. She started hitting it in the head with the rock she picked from the ground, killing it.

Cody stared up at her, knowing that she probably just saved his life, "Thank you..."

Sierra grabbed his hand, lifting him from the ground before hiding him behind her, "Stay behind me, I'll keep them away from you."

"Lori! Get down!" Shane shouted as he grabbed his shotgun and started shooting down every walker that appeared in his sight.

Tyler picked up two baseballs and threw one of them to Alejandro as the two teenagers started taking care of every walker that came in their way, as Bridgette, Leshawna, DJ, Ezekiel, and Noah ran over to them.

"Guys? Have you seen Lindsay?" The jock asked them. All four of them shook their heads in response.

Lindsay screamed as she ran past Jim who was crushing the walker skull with a baseball bat, trying to get as away from the undead as possible, but unfortunely for her, one of them caught her, knocking her on the ground along with him. She tried to fight him off but he was simply too strong for her, and it wasn't long before she felt the undead dug his fingers into her stomach, ripping it open. She screamed in agony as the explosions of pain went through her body. the face of the walker was just inches away from her face, but before he could bit into her face, he was stabbed in the head by Izzy' with the knife she was taking with herself everytime when she went out hunting along with Duncan and Daryl.

"Oh my gosh, Lindsay..." Owen said, he and Izzy staring horryfingly at the blond haired teenager.

Amy was screaming in agony as the walker bit into her neck, bitting out a piece of skin, as Andrea was running towards her. Jim killed the walker with a quick punch of his baseball bat. Amy fell on the ground, as Andrea fell on her knees, whispering, ''No! No! Oh! Oh! Oh god! Oh my god!" to herself.

"We need to get to the RV!" Shane shouted, taking out walkers with his shotgun as Dale was taking out some of them with his rifle himself. Morales was beating up every walker that came in his way to keep them from his family, "Morales, work up here!"

Chris was on the ground, trying to get a walker off him, which was opening and closing his mouth, showing off his rotten teeth to him. Out of desperation, he picked up a rock he spotted laying nearby and hit him in the head with it. He proceeded to smash his head with it, until the walker's face wasn't recognizable anymore, blood covering the host's clothes.

Courtney tripped over a rock that happened to be laying on her way. She glanced forward at the walker that was approaching her as she started crawling away from him, becoming more and more terrified with each second as he was closer and closer to her, but suddenly her eyes shot open when the undead was shot in the head, his lifeless body falling on the ground.

She looked up at the place from which the shot came from and saw Duncan. He, Rick, Harold, Chef, Daryl, T-Dog, and Glenn made it back to the camp, "Get out of here, princess!"

Courtney quickly got herself back on her feet and hid behind Duncan, as the juvie hit the walker that was approaching him with the back of his shotgun, and when he was laying on the ground, he shot him in the head, the walkers head bursting into pieces. She glanced over at Harold that took out the walkers that Alejandro and Tyler were keeping away from Bridgette, Leshawna, Ezekiel, DJ and Noah.

"You have no idea how good it is to see you, sugar!" Leshawna said to Harold.

"Took you long enough!" Noah stated, looking around in panic to see if there was any walker heading their way.

"We'd get here sooner, but someone stole our truck." Harold explained.

The arrival of the group that went to Atlanta was the moment when everyone in the camp could lower their guard. All of the walkers that invaded their camp were cleared out and the survivors began to catch their breath, friends and families hugged each other, horrified because of what just happened. All of them watching how Andrea was crying her out as her younger sister died of the blood loss in her arms.

"Lindsay!" Tyler shouted, dropping his bat, falling on his knees, staring horrfied at what just happened to his Lindsay. Her stomach was opened, and her bowels were visible, but he didn't care about this, 'You're okay, you're okay."

"...Tyler..." Lindsay said, painful grunts leaving her mouth as she could feel life slowly leaving her body.

"Look at me." Tyler said, trying to deny the fact that his girlfriend was dying, "You're alright, nothing is going to happen to you. I'm here. Listen to me. I'm here."

Unfortunely, he got no answer to any of these calls as Lindsay's gaze went away from him, not a breath leaving her lungs. She was gone.

"I remember my dream, now. Why I dug holes." Jim suddenly spoke up.

Everyone remained silent, not saying anything about what Jim just said.

The only sound that could be heard in the camp was the sound of Andrea and Tyler crying over the bodies of their loved ones.

* * *

**Welp, Lindsay is the first one to go...**


	5. Wildfire

The day after the attack, the group was cleaning up the bodies, burying the bodies of the campers that didn't made it alive and burning the bodies of the walkers. Andrea and Tyler hasn't moved since last night and were still at the side of their loved ones, mourning their deaths.

Lori approached Andrea, walking past Tyler who's eyes were still on Lindsay's body, as if they were unable to look in different directions, " Andrea. I'm so sorry. She's gone. You got to let us take her. We all cared about her and I promise we'll be as gentle as we can."

She gave Andrea a quick pat on her back and left to talk with her husband. She walked past Daryl, Alejandro, Duncan and Chef as they were crushing the skulls of the dead, to prevent them from changing into walkers, Morales, Glenn, DJ and Izzy as they were carrying the bodies into the fire. It was obvious to her that DJ and Glenn were holding back tears as they were putting the bodies of the people they meet during the time they spent in this camp into fire.

As she walked over to her husband he asked her, "She still won't move?''

''She won't even talk to us. She's been there all night." Lori answered as she glanced over at Tyler, "Things aren't better with him, neither. I talked with his friends and most of them told me that they tried to talk with him, but he didn't answered to any of their calls. What do we do?"

"We can't just leave Amy and Lindsay like that. We need to deal with it same as the others." Shane stated.

"I'll try to talk with them." Rick said as he made his way over to Andrea, "Andrea..."

Andrea's response to this was instant, he pulled her pistol out and aimed it at Rick, "I know how safety works."

''All right. Okay. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Rick said, backing away from her. It seemed like she didn't want to talk with anyone, and it as just a gentle way to put it. He walked over to Tyler, hoping to at least have a talk with him, even though it was pretty obvious to him that the chance of it was very small.

He only found himself to be right as he approached the teenager, "Tyler..." He didn't got an answer, "...Tyler."

Again, silence was the only answer he got from the teenager.

* * *

The group was having a discussion about what they should do about Amy and Lindsay. Most of them seemed to have trouble about thinking of the way how to convice Andrea and Tyler to let them bury their loved one, but Daryl had a pretty much strong opinions about what they should do, and he wasn't afraid to tell them about it,

''Y'all can't be serious. Let them hamstring us? The dead girl's a time bomb." was what he told them.

"What do you suggest?" Rick asked him.

''Take the shot. Clean, in the brain from here. Hell, I can hit a turkey between the eyes from this distance." Daryl explained.

"No. For god's sakes, let her be." Lori told him.

"What if it was your brother laying there instead of Amy or Lindsay, Daryl?" Gwen asked him.

"Would you be okay if one of us just walked over to your brothers body and a put a bullet in his head while you're crying over his loss?" Leshawna added, crossing her arms with a glare directed towards the younger Dixon.

"If it was my brother, he'd kick my ass for not taking care of that sooner." Daryl retorted as he everyone to just watched him walk away from them towards Morales and Izzy to help them with the body of someone from the camp. They carried him by his shoulders as he carried him by his legs, as the headed towards the burning pile of bodies.

They were stopped by Glenn and DJ, as the Korean man asked them, "What are you doing? This is for the geeks. This is for our people." He said as he pointed at the row of bodies they had started for the group members.

"What's the difference? They're all infected." Daryl pointed out, as they set the body down to look at Glenn and DJ.

"Our people go into the row over there." DJ said, upset, as tears began showing in his eyes, "We don't burn them! We bury them! Understand?"

Daryl, Izzy and Morales looked at the two of them for a moment, before they picked up the body once again and brought the body to the row Glenn and DJ pointed at.

"You reap what you sow." Daryl scowled at them.

Morales looked at him, "You know what? Shut up."

Grunting, Daryl let go off his legs, causing them to fall on the ground, making Morales and Izzy drag it the rest of the way, "Y'all left my brother for dead." He shouted loudly, so the whole group would hear him, "You had this coming!"

"Can't you just be quiet for a second?" Courtney asked, carrying the body of a walker to the fire with Bridgette as the younger Dixon walked past them.

Jim walked over to Jacqui, who was ready to move another body. As he came up to her, she looked up at him, noticing blood on the side of his shirt, "The blood is fresh, were you bit?" She asked the first thing that came into her mind.

"No." He quickly replied, as he put his hands on his knees and looked at her, "I just got scratched during the attack."

"You got bit." Jacqui stated, as she stood up.

"I'm fine." Jim tried to convice her.

"Then, show me." Jacqui told him.

"Don't tell, please." Jim pleaded her.

"A walker bit him. A walker bit Jim." Jacqui loudly announced to the group.

Everyone suddenly stopped what they were doing, and came up closer to them, "I'm okay." Jim said to them, as people made a circle around him.

"Show it to us." Daryl demanded as he walked up to Jim, pointing at him. A pickaxe was on his shoulder, "Show it to us."

"Jim, we're not going to hurt you. Just show us if you were bitten." Chef tried to reason with Jim, but he wasn't listening to any of them.

"Listen to him, Jim." Chris said, standing next to Chef, wanting to be sure if Jim was bitten or not. If it would turn out to be true, then Jim would be a danger to all of them.

As the people began to get closer to him, Jim picked up a shovel that was laying nearby, and held it in front of him, as a form of defense.

"Easy, Jimbo." Duncan said.

"Grab him!" Daryl shouted.

"Jim. Put it down, put it down." Shane said, as he walked up to him, with his shotgun at his side.

Jim, who was mostly focused on Daryl, Duncan and Shane in front of him, didn't had a chance to notice Chef behind him. The co-host of Total Drama grabbed him from behind, grabbing his arms and pulling the back, causing him to drop his shovel on the ground.

"I'm okay. I'm okay." Jim kept repeating those words, as Chef still held him. Chef gestured towards Chris to come over to them as host of Total Drama immediately knew what he meant by that. He quickly made his way towards Jim and grabbed his shirt. He pulled it up, revealing a bit mark on his stomach.

* * *

The group had gathered in a circle to debate what to do with Jim while he was sitting in the back of an RV.

"I say we put a pickaxe in his head and be done with it." Daryl said, as he stood with a pickaxe on his shoulder.

"Is that what you'd want, if It were you?" Courtney asked the younger Dixon, as she looked at him, "A pickaxe to the head?"

"Yes, and I would thank you while you did it." Daryl answered.

"I never thought I'd say something like that, but the redneck is perharps right about it. Jim was bitten which makes him a danger to everyone in this place." Noah stated.

''What if he changes without anyone here noticing it? It may cost more life of people here." Heather added.

"Of people here? You mean yourself?" Bridgette asked her.

"Maybe." Heather stated, "But it doesn't change the fact that he's a danger to all of us."

"Jim's not a monster, guys. or some rabid dog." Rick said, with his hands on his hips, "He's sick."

"Hey, hey." Shane said with his hands up as Rick got louder, "Shhhh."

"He's sick. A sick man. We start down that road, where do we draw the line?" Rick said, glancing around the group.

"The line's pretty clear, zero tolerance for walkers, or them to be." Daryl pointed out.

"What if we can get him help..." Rick was interrupted by Dan in the middle of the sentence.

"There's no help for him, Rick We all should know what happens to the people who are bit or scratched by them. They all turn. No exceptions." Chef said, as Rick opened his mouth to speak, but Chef continued, gesturing towards the truck that he and the rest got from Drake on the day when they bombed Atlanta, "Do you know how we got that truck?"

''No." Rick shook his head.

"It was a few hours before they bombed Atlanta. We were on the road for another season of Total Drama when we crashed on the road as I tried to avoid hitting someone who was most likely a walker. A few of us went to get help and a man in the truck stopped on the road to help us. His name was Drake and he had a bit mark on his neck, he told us he got it on the gas station when a walker attacked him, he probably was lucky that the owner got in there in time and saved him from that walker..." Chef started explaining how he, Chris and the contestants found out about all of this.

He sighed, remembering the sight of Drake's lifeless body on the floor, "When we arrived on that gas station, Drake was much paller, even though it was just a few minutes after we meet him on that road. When he went into the gas station to talk with the owner about getting us help, someone else came out just a moment after. It was a walker, the first one we had kill to survive. After taking care of him we went into the gas station, and saw Drake, laying in a pool of blood, the body of the owner who most likely was the one who killed laid next to him, his head smashed into pieces. The owner who saved his life just several minutes ago was the one to end his life... He turned into a walker in just several minutes after saving Drake."

"So this is what happened to Drake..." Cody muttered to himself. Chef, DJ, Sierra, Tyler and Izzy never told any of them what happened to Drake on that gas station, and he couldn't blame them. He wouldn't like to talk about it as well.

Chef paused for a moment, "...Rick, what I'm trying to say, is that Daryl's is probably right about it. If we'll try to help Jim, we'll be delaying the inevitable."

Rick just nodded his head to this story, as he asked, "What about CDC? I heard that they were working on the cure."

"But it was before the world become how it is today, a lot could have changed." Chris pointed out.

"What if it is still up and running?" Rick asked. if there was an option to go to the CDC, they should try it, "If there's any government left, anu structure at all, they'd protect CDC at all cost, wouldn't they? I think it our best shot. Shelter, protection. It's our best choice and Jim's only chance."

''Rick, you want those things, all right? I do too, okay? Now if they exist, they're at the army base. Fort Benning." Shane suggested, as sat on the crate, a shotgun was resting on his shoulder,

"That's 100 miles in in the opposite direction." Lori pointed out.

"That is right, Lori." Shane agreed with her, before he added, "But if that place is operational, it'll be heavily armed. We'd be safe there."

''The military were on the front lines of this thing. They got overrun. We've all seen that. The C.D.C. is our best choice and Jim's only chance." Rick stated.

''You go looking for aspirin, do what you need to do. Someone needs to have some balls to take care of this damn problem!'' Daryl shouted as he turned and began to run towards Jim, with the pickaxe raised. The sound of the hammer of a gun stopped him from bringing the axe down into Jim's skull, as Rick came up from behind him.

"Hey, hey hey!" Shane shouted as some of the group ran after Daryl.

"We don't kill the living." Rick said to Daryl as Shane made his way in front of Daryl, blocking him from Jim.

Daryl kept his pickaxe raised for a moment, before he lowered it down, "That's funny coming from a guy who just put a gun to my head."

"We may disagree on some things, not on this." Rick told him.

"Put it down." Shane added as Daryl threw his pickaxe into the dirt and walked off.

"Come with me." Rick told Jim, as he turned to him.

"Where are you taking me?" Jim asked, looking up him.

"Someplace safe." Rick explained.

As Rick and Shane started taking Jim away, everyone went back to what they were doing. Daryl picked up his pickaxe made his way to the closest corpse which happened to be a body of Carol's husband Ed. He raised the axe in the air, and was about to bring it down at Ed's head, but was stopped by Carol, who approached him.

"I'll do it. He's my husband." She said to him as he handed her the pickaxe. At first she hesitated, but then she started repeatedly hacking Ed's head into pieces as she cried, with Daryl quietly watching it from behind.

Dale walked over to Andrea and sat down beside her, "I came to pay my respects. Did I ever mention how I lost my wife?''

''Cancer, wasn't it?" Andrea asked him, not taking her eyes off her sister.

''Yeah. I dragged her to every doctor, every test. And after all the surgeries and the chemos, she was ready. She accepted it, you know? But I never could. And I spent the last few years so angry. I felt so cheated. Since she passed, you girls were the first people... That I cared anything for." Dale told her as Andrea pulled out something from her pocket. It was a necklace she found in the store back in Atlanta. The necklace that was supposed to be Amy's birthday present, "This is her birthday?''

"Her birthday was always like... like a week long affair. But I somehow always missed it. I was away at college or too busy for kid's parties. She'd call all excited. I always said that I'd make it home and I really always meant to, but I never made it past that phone call." Andrea explained, Dale could hear the guilt in her voice.

''I know things are hard enough for you without adding guilt into the mix, huh?" Dale asked her.

Andrea remained silent, not saying anything in response as she pulled the mermaid necklace out of the paper and carefully put it around her sister's neck.

"Tyler, amigo." Alejandro said as he approached the red clothed teenager with Chef and Duncan, a baseball bat was in his hand, "We came here for Lindsay."

Tyler said nothing as Duncan told him, being straight to the point with what he just said, 'You know that she's going to turn. We can't allow that to happen."

Tyler sighed, knowing that Duncan was right, even though he hated to admit it, as he stood up from the ground and faced Chef, Duncan and Alejandro, "I'll do it."

"Soldier, you know that you don't have to, right?" Chef asked him, "Let one of us to take care of it."

Tyler shook his head as he glanced over at Alejandro, and gestured towards his baseball bat, "She's my girlfriend. Let's me do it."

Although, he was a bit hesitant, at first, Alejandro gave Tyler his baseball bat, as Chef spoke up to the jock again, "If you won't be able to do it, we're here."

Ignoring what Chef just said to him, Tyler looked down at Lindsay's lifeless body, "I'm sorry..." He said as he brought the bat down upon Lindsay's face, smashing her face to prevent her from turning into a walker, which was followed by another smash, and another. Alejandro and Duncan shared a quick look with each other with themselves as Chef just stared at the teenager, not really knowing what to do, or say.

Andrea heard Amy breathing. Her younger sister opened her bloodshot eyes, as she spoke up to her for the last time, tearfully, "Amy, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for not ever being there. I always thought there'd be more time. I'm here now, Amy. I'm here." She held her forehead against Amy's while also holding her by her neck to prevent her from bitting her, as she pulled out her pistol and aimed it at the younger sister's head, "I love you."

She sobbed as she pulled the trigger. The gun fired and the bullet penetrated Amy's skull.

* * *

The survivors from the camp staged a funeral for everyone that didn't made it alive from the sudden attack of the walkers last night. Dale and Andrea carried the lifeless body of Amy into the hole while Tyler and DJ carried the body into the other one. The group said their final goodbyes to their friends and loved ones, and wished them to rest in peace.

The next morning, they were preparing to leave to CDC as Shane conviced to go there, instead of Fort Benning, saying that he trust Rick and his instincts.

"Alright, everybody listen up. Those of you with CB's, we're gonna be on channel 40. Let's keep the chatter down, right? Now you got a problem, don't have a CB, can't get a signal or anything at all, you're gonna hit your horn one time." He told the group, "That'll stop the caravan, any questions?"

"Uh, we're not going." Morales announced as he stood next to his family, causing everyone to look at them.

"What? Why?" Sierra raised her brow in confusion at the choice of Morales and his family.

"We have a family in Birmingham. We wanna be with our people." Miranda explained.

"You go on your own, you won't have anyone to watch your back." Shane pointed out, looking at the family.

"We'll take that chance. I gotta do what's the best for my family." Morales said.

"You sure?" Rick asked, wanting to be sure.

"We talked about it. We're sure." Morales assured him.

"Alright, Shane." Rick said as he knelt down next to the bag of guns.

''357?" Shane asked his best friend.

"Yeah." Rick replied as he pulled out Smith & Wesson Model 586 - 357 Magnum, as Shane grabbed a box of ammo. Rick walked up to Morales with the gun in his hand. Shane walked beside him, with a box of bullets.

Morales took the gun from Rick and the box from Shane, before Shane informed him, "The box is half full."

Lori jumped off the hood of the car she was on and walked over to say her goodbyes to the family.

"Thank you, for everything." Miranda said, as Lori approached her.

"Come here." Lori said to her, as she embraced her tightly, as tears began to form in her eyes.

"Good luck, man." Shane said as he shook the man's hand. Lori kissed the foreheads of Morales' son and daughter before they went to say their goodbyes to the other children in the camp.

"Bye." Eliza said to Sophia, giving her a hug, as Sophia started crying as she put her arms around her.

"Thank you." Miranda said, hugging Lori, as Eliza pulled away from Sophie, before giving her doll to her. Sophia took it to her chest, as Eliza walked over to her father.

"I'm going to miss you, buddy." Owen said, as he and Morales shared a quick hug.

"Same thing to you, big guy." Morales said, offering Owen a quick smile.

"Good luck out there." Bridgette said to Miranda after sharin a quick hug with her, "I hope you're going to be okay."

"Same to you, Bridgette." Miranda said as she looked at Bridgette's locket "I'm sure you'll find him."

Bridgette looked down at her locket, "Thank you. I hope you're right."

"Channel 40 if you change your minds." Rick said to Morales.

"Okay." Morales said, as he said his began walking towards their car.

"Come on, let's move out." Shane said to the group, as everyone got into their vehicles, ready for their journey.

They all began to drive down the path to the main road. Morales was in the the lead. He waved his hand to the group, as he took the other direction, leaving the truck with Chef and Chris in the front of the group. Chef held a map in his hand, they found it a while ago and it would be quite helpful to them and Chris was sitting in the driver's seat.

And with that, the group drove towards their destination, for hours.

* * *

It was late in the afternoon when the group heard Dale hit the horn, and saw him pulling his RV off to the side of the road, causing the car behind him, and the truck in front of him to do the same. The engine was overheating again, as if the smoke billowing from the front of the RV wasn't proof enough.

"I told you we'd never get far on that house." Dale said, as he was standing in front of the hissing RV with Rick, "I said I needed the one from the cube van."

"Can you jury-rig it." Rick asked him.

"That's all it's been so far. It's more duct tape than hose... And i'm out of the tape." Dale answered, as everyone gathered in front of the RV.

"I see something up ahead." Duncan said at the front of the group. He had his binoculars at his hand up to his eyes, "I think it's a gas station if we're lucky enough."

Shane walked up to him, holding his hands out for the binoculars, "You're right, good eye kid."

"Guys! Jim is bad." Leshawna said as she rushed out of the RV, "Bridgette, DJ and Jacqui say they don't think he can take anymore."

"Hey, Rick, you wanna hold down the fort? I, and Duncan will drive ahead, see what we can bring back." Shane said to Rick.

"I'll come with you." T-Dog said as Shane nodded his head at him.

"Me too." Harold said as Shane nodded his head at him as well.

Rick nodded his head as he turned towards the doors of the RV to talk with Jim while Shane, Duncan, T-Dog and Harold drove off to find replacement for Dale's van.

The sheriff deputy went over to Jim, who was in agony, "We'll be back on the road soon."

''Oh no. Christ... My bones... My bones are like glass. Every little bump..." Jim stated, "God, this ride is killing me. Leave me here. I'm done. Just leave me. I want to be with my family."

''They're all dead. I don't think you know what you're asking. The fever... You've been delirious more often than not..." Rick was cut off by Jim.

" I know. Don't you think I know?" Jim interrupted him, groaning in pain, "I'm clear now. In five minutes I may not be. Rick, I know what I'm asking. I want this. Leave me here. Now that's on me. Okay? My decision. Not your failure."

* * *

"It's what he says he wants." Rick said, standing in front of everyone. Duncan, Harold, Shane and T-Dog hadn't found a hose for the RV, instead they found more duct tape.

"And he's lucid?" Carol asked.

"He seems to be." Rick replied, "I would say yes."

''Back in the camp when I said Daryl might be right and you shut me down, you misunderstood. I would never go along with callously killing a man. I was just gonna suggest that we ask Jim what he wants. And I think we have an answer.'' Dale said, looking around the group.

"We just leave him here? We take off? Man, I'm not sure I could live with that." Shane asked, looking over at him.

"It's not your call, either one of you." Lori said as they stood in silence for a moment, before Rick looked at Shane. The two men shared a quick nod, knowing what they're going to do with Jim.

"Yeah. That's it." Rick said as he and Shane gently put Jim under a tree, not too far from their cars.

"Hey, another damn tree." Jim chuckled, looking up at the tree, then at Shane who had a little laugh about it.

However, smile quickly faded from Shane's face, "Hey, Jim I mean, you know it doesn't need to be this."

"No. It's good. The breeze feels nice." Jim assured him.

"Okay. All right." Shane said, as he stood up, wiping the sweat from his mouth.

Jacqui came up next and knelt down beside him, "Just close your eyes, sweetie. Don't fight." She said to him as Jim closed his eyes, before Jacqui gave him a kiss on the cheek, before she stood up and walked to the RV.

After her, Dale was the next to walk up to him, "Hey." He said as he put his hand on Jim's knee, "Thanks for, uh, for fighting for us.''

''Okay.'' Jim struggled to keep his breathing normal, as Chef walked over to him.

"You did good, soldier. Fighting by your side was a pleasure." He told him, giving him a quick salute.

"...Thanks." Jim said. If he could, he'd salute back but he was too weak.

"It was a pleasure knowing you, sugar." Leshawna said, offering Jim, a quick rather sad smile. Bridgette and Gwen by her sides doing the same.

Jim gave her a quick smile in return. Everyone said their final goodbyes to him and headed back into their vehicles and continued their journey towards CDC, some of them giving Jim one last looks from the windows of their vehicles.

Jim was watching them leave from his position, until he closed his eyes, for the last time, and after that, there was nothing but darkness.

* * *

When the sun was going down, the group had arrived at the CDC and quickly noticed that it was not protected. There were hundreds of dead people and walkers all over the area. Everything, starting with military tanks, and ending with the tanks seemed to be abandoned. Some of the members of the group, were trying to mask the smell which was made by the bodies, by putting their their hands to their noses.

"This place doesn't looks safe to me." Noah stated, looking around.

"Everybody keep moving." Shane whispered to the group, loud enough to hear him, "Stay quiet, let's go."

The group proceeded to walk forward, as they passed a large sign blocking the entry road that said, "STOP. MILITARY CHECKPOINT."

"Keep moving, Stay together, keep moving, c'mon." Rick said.

When the group of got closer to the building, more into military zone, they could see more bodies lying around.

"Oh my gosh..." DJ said, looking around, horrified by the sight of the bodies.

"What happened here, eh?" Ezekiel asked.

"Carol." Lori said as she reached for the woman behind her.

"Shh." Rick said, as he glanced over his shoulder.

"Oh, god." Glenn said as he looked around. The Korean man could see the bodies all the way up to the closed, metal shutters of the CDC.

"Maybe coming here wasn't a good idea." Chris stated, walking by Chef's side, as the two of them walked in front of the group.

"Keep it together, c'mon." Rick said the group made their way to the main entrance.

Chris and Chef reached out and shook the metal shutters that were over the doors, causing them to rattle.

"Nothing." Chris stated as Chef put his back against the shutter, bending down a bit, trying to push it up. It wouldn't budge.

"There's nobody here." Gwen stated.

"Then why are these shutters down?" Rick asked, looking over at her.

"Walkers!" Daryl shouted, causing everyone to look behind them.

Everyone who had weapons, cocked them and moved a few steps forward, but didn't fire a shot, yet.

In this dark, nobody saw a legless walker who was slowly crawling towards Harold. Hedidn't saw it either, and it probably wouldn't end well for him, if one person from the group didn't rush over to stab it in the head, ending it's life. Harold, who was suprised that he was so close to ending up as a meal for this walker, looked down at the person who saved him, and saw... Duncan, which suprised him, a lot.

"Thanks." He told him, doing his best to hide suprise that Duncan just helped him.

"You owe me, Doris." Duncan told him.

After Duncan said those words to Harold, Daryl aimed his crossbow at the nearby walker, before killing it, "You lead us into a graveyard!

"Guys! This is a dead end! We have get out of here!" Alejandro shouted.

"Fort Benning, Rick. It's still an option." Shane reminded Rick.

"On what? No food, no fuel. That's 100 miles." Andrea said.

"125. I checked the map." Glenn added.

"This isn't the time for it, Glenn!" Cody told Glenn, Sierra already coming in front of him to shield him from the walkers.

''Let's move!" Chris shouted.

"Let's go, please." Bridgette said, hiding in the back on the group.

"Everybody! Back to the cars! Move!" Shane told the group as Rick looked up at the camera above the door when it made a whirring sound.

"The camera! It moved." Rick shouted.

"You imagined it." Dale said, looking back to the man, then towards the camera.

"It happens! I read about it!" Harold added, hoping that it'll convice Rick, but it did not.

"It moved." Rick said, as he moved closer to it, "It moved."

"Rick. It's dead, man. It's automated device, man. It's gears, okay?" Shane said as he grabbed Rick by his arm and started to drag him away.

"Rick, just listen to him." Chef said as he came over to Rick and Shane, when Rick started fighting to pull away, "Look around this place. It's dead.''

"We knew that it was one of the options when we were heading here." Chris added, wanting to get out of here as fast as possible.

"Rick there's nobody here!" Lori shouted as Shane pushed his back against his friend. Rick pushed him back and made his way around him. He walked to the shutter down the camera and started banging on it.

"I know you're here. I know you can hear me." He said to the camera, looking up at it, as Shane and Regi both came up to his side. Shane tried to grab his arm, only to be shaken off.

"He is going to get us all killed!" Heather shouted, pointing at Rick.

"Let's just get out of here!" Izzy shouted.

"We must go, please!" DJ said, turning to Rick for a moment, before looking back at the approaching walkers, with terrified expression on his face.

"Please! We're desperate! Please help us! We have women, children, no food, hardly any gas left." Rick said, holding his arm out to the camera as Lori ran up to him and put his hand on his chest.

"Rick. There's nobody here." She said.

"We have nowhere else to go." Rick said as he pushed her off and started banging on the shutter again, "If you don't let us in, you're killing us! Please!"

Shane grabbed Lori's arm and pushed her behind him, to the rest of the group, "Come on, buddy. Let's go." He said as Shane wrapped his arms around Rick's chest, attempting to drag him away.

"Please help us." Rick said as everyone started shouting at him, as Shane, who was joined by Chef pulled him away, "You're killing us! You're killing us!" He kept yelling those words to the camera, until Chef let go and Shane spun around and let go, sending him in the direction of the cars. Rick stumbled, doing his best to keep balance as he heard a noise behind him.

He and the rest of the group turned around and looked at the shutter that was slowly opening itself.

Everyone lowered their weapons, and just stared at the blinding light, which lit up the area in front of them.


	6. TS-19

**If you were wondering how the intro changed, just imagine that the picture that Chris took in the first episode Total Drama Island appears right after Lori's picture, only this time, it is heavilly destroyed as it lays on the floor in a flithy room.**

**As for the addition of the cars into the group. Add Drake's truck, and the car they got from the gas station in the first chapter.**

* * *

They entire group stared ahead of them as the bright light coming from the door shut off, leaving a much dimmer door ahead of them.

"Daryl, Duncan, you cover the back." Shane said as they formed a scattered line, making their way to the opening.

"Hello?" Rick called out as they walked further into the building, weapon still in ready.

"Is anyone here?" Chris added.

"Close those doors." Shane said to Daryl and Duncan who were the last ones in. They turned and closed the doors the shutter was previously blocking, "Watch out for walkers."

The group gathered in front of the center that had a mural and "CDC" written on it's front. There was a light above their heads, giving them enough light to be able to see what was going on around them, as Rick called out again, "Hello?"

There was a sound of someone cocking his gun and a man appeared in their view, aiming his gun at them, "Anybody infected?"

''One of our group was. He didn't make it." Rick answered, lowering his Python a little.

''Why are you here? What do you want?" He asked, making his way down the steps of the small landing he was on.

"A chance..." Rick replied.

''That's asking an awful lot these days." The unknown man stated.

''I know." Rick said with a nod of his head.

The unknown man took a minute to look around the group, not having a chance to see a living person in months, before saying, coming closer to them, "You all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission.''

"We can do that." Rick said, lowering his weapon more.

''You got stuff to bring in, you do it now." The unknown man said, lowering his gun as he gestured towards the exit, "Once this door closes it stays closed."

Rick nodded his head as he headed towards the door again with a man. He, Daryl, Duncan, Chef, Alejandro and Izzy were the group that went out to the cars to grab everyone's essentials. T-Dog and Dale held the two doors open for them. When the group returned, they shut the doors, and the man slid his ID card through the security keypad next to the doors.

''Vi, seal the main entrance. Kill the power up here." The unknown man said to the speaker box.

The shutter came down on the entrance, blocking the entrance to this building, as Rick introduced himself to the man, extending his hand for a handshake, "Rick Grimes."

"Dr. Edwin Jenner." Jenner introduced himself, pausing to look at the group, before shaking Rick's hand.

He led them to the back of the hallway to a large elevator. When he said they had to take a elevator to the lower level, everyone knew it would be a torture. They had to squeeze to fit in, and they barely did.

"I have to say your group is remarkably big." Jenner told them, not hiding surpise in his tone.

''There were more of us, though." Bridgette said with a sigh. She could hear Tyler and Andrea letting out a sigh at her words.

"Doctors always go around packing heat like that?" Duncan asked Jenner.

"There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself. But you look harmless enough." Jenner answered as he turned to look around everyone in the group. He turned to look down at Carl, and joked, "Except you, I'll have to keep my eye on you." Carl gave him a smile as Jenner chuckled, turning to the keypad.

They all could feel the elevator stop as the doors opened. Jenner was the first one to walk out, and was followed by the rest.

"Are we underground?" Gwen asked as Jenner led them through the hallway.

Jenner turned back to look at her, but didn't stop walking, "Are you claustrophobic?"

"Yes." Gwen confirmed with a nod of her head.

"I am too." Carol added, "A little."

"Try not to think about it." Jenner told them.

He led them to another room that was filled with computers and large screens, "Vi,bring up the lights in the big room." The lights switched, lighting the entire room, "Welcome to zone 5.''

Rick looked around the room, it looked much emptier than he'd except, "Where is everybody? The other doctors,the staff?"

''I'm it. It's just me here." Jenner declared.

"What about the person you were speaking with?" Sierra asked, "Vi, right?

"Is he an AI, or something like that?" Harold asked.

He got his answer when Jenner looked up at the ceiling and shouted, "Vi,say hello to our guests. Tell them...welcome."

''Hello,guests. Welcome." A voice sounded in the speakers.

''I'm all that's left. I'm sorry." Jenner told them.

He turned around, leading them to the other side of the room, and from there, he took them through another hallway into another room. It was large enough to fit all of them without any problems while he took everyone's blood samples.

''What's the point? If we were infected,we'd all be running a fever." Andrea said, as she was the last one from the group to get her draw her blood.

''I've already broken every rule in the book letting you in here." Jenner explained, setting the syringe down, "All done."

Andrea stood up from the seat, starting to black out, luckilly Jacqui and DJ managed to grab her, as Jenner asked her, "Are you okay?"

''She hasn't eaten in days." Jacqui explained.

"None of us have." Leshawna added.

* * *

The group was now sitting around the dinner table, eating, drinking and having a good time. The moment when the food arrived, everyone immediately dug into it, which also resulted in the comments directed towards Owen as the overweighted teenager was scarfing through his food as if he had bottomless belly. The contestants and two hosts just shrugged to it, already used to Owen's eating habit, but the people they meet in Atlanta were still getting used to it.

''Fine." Lori said as Dale who was standing at the end of the table poured her another glass of wine.

''You know." The eldery man said, handing her cup to her, "In Italy, children have a little bit of wine with dinner. And in France."

''Well, when Carl is in Italy or France, he can have some then." Lori said, looking between her son and Dale, taking a sip of her wine.

''What's it gonna hurt?" Rick insisted with a smile on his face, " Come on. Come on."

"Let him have drink, Lori. I had my first drink when I was three years younger than him. " Chris spoke up.

"Are you serious? You never told me about it." Chef asked, turning to look at his fellow host.

"Never had a chance to say it." Chris shrugged his shoulders.

Lori smiled as she shrugged her shoulders, taking her hand off Carl's cup and raised it in the air in defeat. Everyone laughed at that. T-Dog grinned and raised his glass, before having another sip as Dale poured down a few drops onto Carl's cup.

"There you are, young lad." He said, as he handed it to the boy, who took it from him and took his first sip of wine. Rick looked down at his son, chuckling upon seeing his son's face twist at the taste of the wine.

Carl quickly set the cup down, and looked at it in disgust, causing everyone to laugh, "Eww!"

Lori reached down for his cup, pouring what was left of his wine into hers as she patted him on his shoulder, "That's my boy. Good boy."

Carl shook his head, trying to get rid of the sour taste in his own, "Yuck. That tastes nasty."

''Well,just stick to soda pop there, bud." Shane said.

"Not you Glenn." Daryl said to the asian man, "Or you Noah."

"What?" Glenn asked, looking up from the wine bottle with a smile.

"What do you mean by that?" Noah asked.

''Keep drinking. I want to see how red your face can get." Daryl taunted both of them, to which everyone laughed, except for Glenn and Noah.

"What about you, DJ? You're not drinking?" Duncan asked, looking over at his fellow contestants.

"My momma wouldn't let me." DJ answered, even though he hasn't seen his mother since it all began, he was still staying true the things he promised her.

"You know your mom is not here, right?" Duncan pointed out.

"Duncan, If he doesn't want to drink, then he shouldn't." Courtney told him.

"I'm just saying, princess." Duncan stated.

"I wonder if they have any bread here." Bridgette said.

"Why?" T-Dog asked him.

"Then DJ can make us his sandwiches for breakfast." Bridgette explained.

"Oh, yes!" Owen's face lightened up at the mention of DJ's famous sandwiches.

"That sounds great." Cody said.

"Are they really that good?" Dale asked the teenagers, noticing their expression at the mention of DJ's sandwiches.

"Believe me, old man. His sandwiches are something you can die for." Heather said, being one of the contestants that were stealing sandwiches before DJ eliminated himself in Total Drama Action, after that happened, they all had to go through Chef's food every single day.

Rick spared a glance at Jenner. The doctor was sitting by himself by the table away from the group. He was the only one not laughing. He was just looking at the people in front of him.

''It seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly.'' He said, looking around the group, then at Jenner.

''He is more than just our host." T-Dog stated, raising his glass in the air.

'That's right!" Izzy added, raising he glass as well.

''Hear! Hear." Dale called out as the entire group raised their glasses in the air.

"Here's to you, Doc!" Daryl shouted, as he raised the wine bottle that was in his hand, "Booyah!''

''Booyah!" T-Dog said, loudly as they all clinked their glasses together.

''Thank you." Rick said, looking at Jenner, pressing his glass to his lips.

''So when are you gonna tell us what the Hell happened here, Doc?" Shane suddenly asked, looking into his glass, "All the—the other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened, where are they?''

''We're celebrating, Shane." Rick told his best friend.

"We don't need that now." Alejandro added. This was the first time when he felt like in an old world, before the walkers in a long time, and didn't want this moment to be ruined.

''Whoa, wait a second. This is why we're here, right? This was your move supposed to find all the answers." Shane said as he pointed at Jenner, "Instead we found him. Found one man, why?"

Well, when things got bad, a lot of people just left, went off to be with their families. And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted." Jenner explained.

"Every last one?" Shane asked him.

''No, many couldn't face walking out the door. They... opted out. There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time." Jenner continued his explanation.

''You didn't leave. Why?" Harold asked.

''I just kept working,hoping to do some good." Jenner answered.

'"Dude,you are such a buzzkill, man." Glenn said to Shane.

After the dinner, Jenner led them to the residental quarters, "Most of the facility is powered down including housing so you'll have to make do here. The couches are comfortable, but there are cots in storage if you like. There's a rec room down the hall that you kids might enjoy. Just don't plug in the video games, okay? Or anything that draws power. The same applies—if you shower, go easy on the hot water."

When he walked away Glenn looked around the group, and said, "Hot water?''

''That's what the man said." T-Dog said, happily.

"I'll go first!" Heather stepped forward, having a chance to take a hot shower for the first time in a long time. She was going to enjoy this moment for as long as she could, "This is exactly what I needed!"

The entire group moved to take their showers as well. Neither of them could see the expressions of Tyler and Andrea, which were total opposite of happy.

* * *

The next morning, most of the group was around the table they had ate last night. Only this time, a little worse for wears.

"Morning." Glenn mumbled from his seat as Rick walked in.

"Morning." Rick said as he got to the table.

''Are you hungover?" Carl asked his dad, "Mom said you'd be."

''Mom is right." Rick smiled at his son.

''Mom has that annoying habit." Lori said, ripping a piece of bacon into smaller bits.

"Here you go, Glenn. Have some eggs." DJ said, serving Glenn some eggs he made.

"They're going to make you into a new person." Cody said, eating some of the eggs DJ made as well as Jacqui rubbed Glenn's shoulders.

"Be happy that Chef didn't made them, otherwise the effect would be a total opposite." Duncan added, Chef who was sitting by the table rolled his eyes at his words, eating his breakfast.

''Where'd all this come from?" Rick asked, struggling with a bottle of aspirin.

"Jenner." Lori said.

'' Could you help me,please?" Rick said, holding the bottle out to her, which she opened shortly after, "Thank you.

"He thought some of us may use it." Lori stated, looking over at Glenn.

Jacqui took a seat next to the asian man and still had her hands on his shoulder, "Don't ever ever ever let me drink again."

"You're still looking better than the bookworm." Chef said, glancing over at Noah who had his face burried on the table.

"Be quiet..." Noah said, rasing his finger in the air, as Owen who was sitting next to him offered him a quick pat on his back.

"Hey." Shane said as he walked in.

"Hey." Rick said, turning to look at Shane as his best friend poured himself a cup of coffee, "Feel as bad as I do?''

''Worse." Shane replied.

''What the hell happened to you?" T-Dog said, noticing some scratches on Shane's neck, "Your neck?"

''I must have done it in my sleep." Shane said, looking puzzled at his neck.

"Never seen you do that before." Rick stated.

"Me neither." Shane said, as he looked at Lori, "Not like me at all."

"Do you want one of us to take a look at this?" Bridgette offered.

"No. I'll be good." Shane assured her.

''Morning." Jenner said, walking in.

''Hey, Doc." Shane greeted him, which was followed by the rest.

''Doctor. I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing..." Dale was cut off by Jenner.

"But you will anyway." Jenner interrupted him.

"We didn't come here for the eggs." Tyler said, with Andrea nodding her head in agreement.

* * *

Everyone followed Jenner into the room with computer terminals after they'd finished eating. He set his coffe mug down on the table at his station and pressed a button on the keyboard. He was greeted by a beep.

''Give me playback of TS-19." He told the computer.

''Playback of TS-19." Vi said.

''Few people ever got a chance to see this. Very few." Jenner said as everyone gathered around.

Everyone saw a loading bar on the gigantic projection on the wall in front of them. In a second, four images appeared on the lower left of the video, all of them showing different angles of human brain. The bigger image showed a frontal view of a persons craniun, with brain showed in every detail.

"Is that a brain?" Carl asked.

'' An extraordinary one. Not that it matters in the end. Take us in for E.I.V." Jenner said.

''Enhanced internal view." Vi clarified.

The main screen changed to show them the upper shoulders and head of the subject. The screen skewed to a horizontal view, then increased the magnification. The image became more and more detailed with each passing second. The magnification showed the Inside the skull. It appeared to be lit with bright blue threads of energy. Some areas were denser with light than others, but there were lighted threads throughout the skull. The detail zoomed in until the threads become closer and pulses of light can be distinguished.

"What are those lights?" Chris asked.

''It's a person's life experiences, memories. It's everything. Somewhere in all that organic wiring, all those ripples of light, is you the thing that makes you unique and human." Jenner answered.

"What?" Gwen asked.

"Can you speak English?" Duncan asked.

''Those are synapses. Electric impulses in the brain that carry all the messages. They determine everything a person says does or thinks from the moment of birth to the moment of death." Jenner continued explaining to them what was the screen showing.

''Death? That's what this is,a vigil?" Rick asked, giving a few steps towards Jenner.

''Yes. Or rather the playback of the vigil." Jenner said.

''This person died?" Andrea asked.

"Who?" Tyler added.

''Test subject 19. Someone who was bitten and infected... and volunteered to have us record the process." Jenner declared, "Vi, Scan forward to the first event."

''Scanning to first event." Vi said.

The screen showed a message which said "Scanning Forward" The brain had lights still flickering in the outer areas but the center had becoma dark as if black roots were growing inside of it.

"Fascinating." Harold said in pure awe.

"What is that?" Chef asked.

''It invades the brain like meningitis." Jenner said, looking at Chef, "The adrenal glands hemorrhage, the brain goes into shutdown, then the major organs. Then death. Everything you ever were or ever will be...gone."

''Is that what happened to Jim?" Sophia asked her mom.

"Yes." Carol confirmed with a nod of her head.

Jacqui felt her eyes watering as she looked at this. Was this what happened to Jim? In that moment she felt even more terrible for leaving Jim behind on that road. She didn't want the same to happen to her. Andrea sat on the chair as Tyler sat down on the ground, rubbing his head.

''They both lost someone a few days ago." Lori revealed, "Andrea lost her sister and Tyler his girlfriend."

''I lost somebody too. I know how devastating it is." Jenner said to Andrea and Tyler. He was silent for a few seconds before returning to his normal position, "Scan to the second event..."

"Scanning to second event." Vi said.

''The resurrection times vary wildly. We had reports of it happening in as little as three minutes. The longest we heard of was eight hours." Jenner went back to explaining, "In the case of this patient, it was two hours, one minute... seven seconds."

A red glow flickered at the base of the brain. The rest remained dark. Random sparks shoot out into the larger area of the brain but no further lights grow.

''It restarts the brain?" Noah observed.

"No, just the brain stem." Jenner replied, "Basically, it gets them up and moving."

''But they're not alive?" Rick asked, approaching Jenner.

The doctor gestured towards the monitor, "You tell me."

Rick shook his head, "It's nothing like before. Most of that brain is dark."

''Dark, lifeless, dead. The frontal lobe, the neocortex, the human part—that doesn't come back. The _you_ part. Just a shell driven by mindless instinct." Jenner told him.

The subject moved, its mouth opening and closing. The head moved side to side, the shoulders move as if the arms were being lifted. The barrel of a gun appeared at the forehead pointing down. A bullet entered the brain and tears through the red cluster of embers. The brain went completely dark, the subject stopped moving.

"Oh, my..." DJ said, staring at the screen.

"God. What was that?" Carol asked.

''He shot his patient in the head. Didn't you?" Andrea asked the doctor.

Jenner placed his arms on his hips, "Vi, Power down the main screen and the workstations.''

''Powering down main screen and workstations." Vi said.

''You have no idea what it is,do you?" Heather asked, being straight forward.

''It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal." Jenner said in a fancy manner that it could be anything.

"Or the wrath of god?" Jacqui asked.

''There is that." Jenner said.

''There are others, right? Other facilities?" Carol asked.

''There may be some. People like me." Jenner said with a little conviction.

''But you don't know?" Rick asked him.

"How can you not know?" Chris added.

''Everything went down. Communications, directives—all of it. I've been in the dark for almost a month." Jenner explained.

''So it's not just here. There's nothing left anywhere? Nothing? That's what you're really saying, right?" Andrea asked.

When Jenner remained silent, everyone knew what he meant by that, as Jacqui said, "Jesus."

Daryl rubbed his eyes, " Man,I'm gonna get shitfaced drunk again."

"Dr. Jenner, I know this has been taxing for you and I hate to ask one more question, but..." Dale said, noticing a clock on the wall, "That clock—it's counting down. What happens at zero?"

''The basement generators they run out of fuel." Jenner explained.

''And then?" Rick asked, but Jenner ignored his question and marched out of the room, with lowered head.

"What do you mean by that?" Sierra asked, but was ignored as well.

''Vi, what happens when the power runs out?" Rick asked Vi.

''When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur." Vi answered.

* * *

Rick led T-Dog, Shane, Glenn, Chef and Chris down a dark hallway, that lit up automatically as they passed through. Rick glanced over the wall and noticed a plaque that told them tthat the generator room is just ahead of them.

''Decontamination-what does that mean?" Glenn asked.

"I don't like the way Jenner clammed up. The way he just wandered off like that." Shane stated.

''What's wrong with him? Seriously, man. Is he nuts, medicated, what?" T-Dog asked.

"In here." Rick said as they entered a room full of pipes generators, " Check that way. Shane, Chris."

The group split up in two groups and they went in different directions, Chris stumbled across a generator with the fuel on "E". He poked it a few times as he said, "It's empty."

Suddenly the lights went out and came back up as Shane voiced their thoughts, "What the hell is this?

Chef, Glenn and T-Dog came running to them, with Glenn asked them, "Hey,you guys kill the lights?"

"Nah, it just went out." Shane replied.

"Anything?" Rick asked them.

''A lot of dead generators and more empty fuel drums than I can count." Chef explained.

"It can't be down to just that one." Shane stated.

"I don't like this." Chris stated, shaking his head.

"Me too, pretty boy." Chef agreed with him.

* * *

Jenner hurried down the hall of the houses. The people living there poking out their doorways as they noticed the power failure. The doctor kept his attention focused on the big room up ahead and ignored everyone else.

''What's going on? Why is everything turned off? Daryl asked, holding an empty bottle in his hand.

Jenner took the bottle from him, without slowing down, "Energy use is being prioritized."

''Air isn't a priority? And lights?" Dale asked.

''It's not up to me." Jenner said, entering the the big room with the crowd following him, "Zone 5 is shutting itself down."

"What does that mean?" Cody asked.

''Hey, man. What do you mean it's shutting itself down?" Daryl demanded, running up to Jenner, "How can a building do anything?"

Rick, Shane, T-Dog, Glenn, Chef and Chris came running down to the stairs as Lori called out for her husband, sprinting towards him with Carl, "Rick!"

''Jenner,what's happening?" Rick asked Jenner, walking along with him.

''The system is dropping all the nonessential uses of power. It's designed to keep the computers running to the last possible second." Jenner explained, pointing at the clock which reached thirty minutes, "That started as we approached the half-hour mark. Right on schedule."

Jenner took a sip from the bottle. He paused at the steps that lead up to the work stations in the big room. Everyone has followed and is grouped around. Jenner handed the bottle to Daryl who angrily snatched it out of Jenner's hand.

''It was the french." He said to Andrea and Tyler.

''What?" They asked at the same time.

''They were the last ones to hold out as far as I know. While our people were bolting out the doors and committing suicide in the hallways, they stayed in the labs till the end. They thought they were close to a solution." Jenner said.

"What happened?" Jacqui asked.

'' The same thing that's happening here. No power grid. Ran out of juice. The world runs on fossil fuel. I mean, how stupid is that?" Jenner said, laughing.

"Let me tell you." Shane said, moving towards Jenner but was stopped by Rick.

'' To Hell with it, Shane. I don't even care. Lori, grab our things. Everybody, get your stuff. We're getting out of here _now!"_ Rick shouted. Everyone started moving out of the room, but stopped when the alarm sounded across the place.

"What was that?" Ezekiel asked, saying what was on their minds.

The screen lit up and it was now showing them a counter, counting from thirty to zero, ''30 minutes to decontamination."

"Doc,what's going on here?" Leshawna asked, nervously.

''Let's get out of here!" Cody shouted. The group tried to run through the door, but Jenner pushed the button and closed them down.

"No. Did you just lock us in? He just locked us in!" Glenn shouted, nervously.

Jenner went over to his computer and started recording, as Daryl yelled, "You son of a bitch!" and moved towards him with a glass bottle.

"Chef! Shane!" Rick shouted.

''You locked us in here!" Daryl shouted as Shane and Chef started holding him back.

''Hey, Jenner, open that door now." Rick said to the doctor.

"There's no point. Everything topside is locked down. The emergency exits are sealed." Jenner declared.

"Then open them! You control this place!" Alejandro shouted, banging his hands against the table.

''That's not something I control." Jenner said, shaking his head, "The computers do. I told you once that front door closed, it wouldn't open again. You heard me say that. It's better this way."

''What happens in 28 minutes?" Chris asked, pointing at the clock.

"What happens in 28 minutes?" Shane asked, knocking over the chair.

''You know what this place is?! We protected the public from very nasty stuff! Weaponized smallpox! Ebola strains that could wipe out half the country! Stuff you don't want getting out! Ever!" Jenner started, as he sat back on his station, "In the event of a catastrophic power failure—in a terrorist attack, for example—H.I.T.s are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out."

"H.I.T.s..." Harold said, knowing what this meant, having heard this term before in his life, "Oh, no..."

"What is it?" Gwen asked, turning to the nerdy teenager.

"C'mon." Heather demanded as Harold remained silent, "Your useless knowledge can be useful for once. Tell us!"

Harold sighed, bracing himself for the reaction he was going to get from the group, "I read about this in a book some time ago, before I signed for Total Drama. Iif I remember correctly, it is a high-impulse thermobaric fuel-air explosives consist of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear. The vacuum-pressure effect ignites the oxygen at between 5,000 degrees and 6,000 degrees and is useful when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired."

"Is he right?" Bridgette asked, breaking the silence that formed in the group as she turned to Jenner, looking and sounding horrified by the explanation they got from Harold.

"Tell us he's wrong." Alejandro wanted Harold to be wrong.

"That is correct." Vi's voice sounded in their ears, confirming Harold's definition.

''It sets the air on fire. No pain." Jenner added, ''An end to sorrow,grief...regret. Everything."

Carol broke into tears, so did her daughter, bringing her closer to herself. Jacqui, Andrea and Tyler listened to that announcement with neutrality. Everyone else just stared at Jenner, having no idea what to say to him.

Daryl tightened his fingers on the bottle, before making his way towards the doors and tossing it at it. The bottle shattered into pieces, "Open the damn door!"

"Out of the way, soldier!" Chef shouted, running up to the doors with a fire axe along with Shane who had one himself. T-Dog tossed one to Daryl and all three of them tried to destroy the door, without any effect.

''You should've left well enough alone it would have been so much easier." Jenner told them.

"Easier for who?" Courtney asked.

''All of you. You know what's out there. A short brutal life and an agonizing death." Jenner said as he looked at Tyler and Andrea, "Your sister, your girlfriend. What was their name?"

"Amy." Andrea said.

"Lindsay." Tyler said shorty after.

''Lindsay, Amy." Jenner said as he turned around to Rick, "You know what this does. You've seen it. Is that what you really want for your wife and son?"

"I don't want this." Rick shook his head.

"Can't make a dent." Shane declared.

''Those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher." Jenner stated.

"Well your head ain't!" Daryl shouted, running towards Jenner with his axe raised.

Rick, Duncan and Alejandro all stepped in his way, stopping him from doing anything more, before T-Dog took the axe away from the younger Dixon.

''You _do_ want this." Jenner said to Rick, "Last night you said you knew it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead.''

''What?" T-Dog asked as everyone looked at him in shock.

"You really said that to him?" Gwen asked.

"After your big talk?" Noah added.

" I had to keep hope alive,didn't I?" Rick said.

"There is no hope." Jenner stated, "There never was."

''There's always hope!" Rick argued, "Maybe it won't be you, maybe not here but somebody somewhere."

''What part of "everything is gone" do you not understand?" Andrea asked.

"He told us everything we needed to know." Tyler added.

"Listen to your friend. They get it. This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event." Jenner stated.

"What you're doing isn't right." Bridgette stated.

"You can't keep us here!" DJ added, looking like he was on the verge of tears, "We don't want to be here!"

"One tiny moment-a millisecond. No pain." Jenner tried to convice her.

"My daughter doesn't deserve to die like this!" Carol cried out.

''Wouldn't it be kinder?" Jenner stated, "More compassionate just to hold your loved ones and wait for the clock to run down?"\

Rick turned around as he heard a gun cocking. His eyes shot open when he saw Shane walking over with a shotgun in his arms. He tried to stop him but Shane pushed him out of his way and aimed his shotgun at Jenner's face, "Out of the way, Rick! Stay out of my way! Open that door or I'm gonna blow your head off. Do you hear me?"

"Brother, brother, this is not the way you do this. We will never get out of here." Rick tried to convice him.

"Shane, listen to him." Lori said.

"It's too late." Shane stated. He yelled, moving his shotgun inches away from Jenner's face and firing a round. It hit the computer screen that broke into hundreds of different pieces, "Open the goddamned door!"

Rick struggled to take the gun away from Shane. He hit Shane across the head with the butt and threw an elbow into Shane's shoulder. Shane fell on the ground, and Rick ran over to his best friends. He fainted with the shotgun butt, ready to hit him again to keep him down.

''Are you done now? Are you done?" He asked his best friend, showing that he's ready to use this method again.

''Yeah,I guess we all are." Shane stated.

Rick handed the gun to Chris, despise the host having no idea how to use it, as he said to Jenner, "I think you're lying."

"What?" Jenner asked.

"You're lying about no hope. If that were true, you'd have bolted with the rest or taken the easy way out. You didn't. You chose the hard path." Rick pointed out, "Why?"

"Eh, You mentioned you lost someone earlier after you asked about Andrea and Tyler..." Ezekiel spoke up as everyone looked a the home schooled kid, "Was that the person you showed on the screen?"

"That's right." Jenner confirmed with a nod of his head, "I stayed, because I made a promise to her. To my wife."

''Test subject 19 was your wife?" Lori asked.

"She begged me to keep going as long as I could. How could I say no?" Jenner said, his words were accompanied by Daryl's and Chef's bumps on the door, "She was dying. It should've been me on that table. I wouldn't have mattered to anybody. She was a loss to the _world_. Hell, she ran this place. I just worked here. In our field she was an _Einstein._ Me? I'm just... Edwin Jenner. She could've done something about this. Not me.''

''Your wife didn't have a choice." Rick said, "You do. That's—that's all we want—a choice, a chance."

''Let us keep trying as long as we can." Lori added.

Jenner stayed silent for a moment. He looked back at Rick and Lori, before walking past them to the number pad, "I told you topside's locked down. I can't open those."

He slipped his card, re-inserting the code. The door opened as Chef called out, "It's open!"

"Come on!" Daryl added.

The group began sprinting towards the doors as they grabbed their families and friends, as Jenner said to Rick, "There's your chance. Take it."

"I'm grateful." Rick said, looking into his eyes.

"The day will come when you won't be." Jenner declared.

"Let's go!" Glenn called out.

"Let's get out of here!" Izzy added.

Jenner and Rick shared one final handshake before the doctor pulled Rick close and placed his mouth next to his ear. Confusion grew on Rick's face but it quickly faded away as Jenner began explaining something to him, the sheriff deputy eyes shot open during hearing this information. Jenner detached from him and gave him one pat on his shoulder as Lori dragged her husband out.

"Guys! We've got four minutes left! We better get going!" Duncan shouted.

T-Dog was dragging Jacqui towards the door, "Let's go. Let's go."

'''No no. I'm staying. I'm staying, sweetie." Jacqui declared as everyone looked at her. T-Dog froze at this revelation from her.

''But that's insane!" T-Dog told her.

''No, it's completely sane. For the first time in the long time." Jacqui said, wiping a tear from her right cheek, "I'm not ending up like Jim, or Lindsay, or Amy. There's no time to argue. And no point, not if you want to get out. Just get out." She pushed T-Dog towards the door, "Get out."

"C'mon." Alejandro said, towing T-Dog back with the group, "There's no time."

Dale gestured for Jacqui to come, his expression saying, "Jacqui, why are you doin this?", but she shook her head, folded her arms tightly against her and turned her back. She didn't gave Dale an opening to persuade her. He looked over to Edwin and saw Andrea and Tyler there.

"I'm staying too." She revealed.

"So am I." Tyler added.

Dale's jaw fell on the floor, "Andrea, Tyler, no!" He looked over at the group standing by the door and gestured for them to get going, "Just go!"

Everyone except for Dale, Andrea, Tyler and Jacqui started running down the hallway as the eldery man ran over to Andrea and Tyler and got on his knee, "Guys, this isn't what Amy and Lindsay would want for you!"

"Lindsay is dead." Tyler stated, his eyes on the floor.

"So is Amy, and you need to leave." Andrea added, not looking at Dale.

The group reached the main lobby. Glenn rushed towards the frontal doors and yanked their handles, but they were locked with shutters.

"Get the doors open!" Shane shouted.

"It doesn't work!' Gleen shouted, giving a frustated kick to the doors.

"Wait a second!" Harold shouted, hurrying over to the number pad on the wall. He typed the same combination he saw Jenner type when they got here, "Try it now!"

Glenn pulled the doors, but it still didn't move, "No!"

"Daryl!" Shane shouted, tossing the axe to Daryl. He, Daryl and Chef began hitting the windows, but all they were able to do was some scratches.

T-Dog came sprinting with a metal chair, "Guys, watch out!"

Shane, Daryl and Chef saw T-Dog running towards the window so they stayed out of his way. T-Dog raised the chair and beat the window, letting out cries. The window remained sturdy.

"Dog!" Duncan shouted, walking towards the window with a shotgun, "Get down!"

T-Dog dropped the chair and leaped away from Duncan's aim. The juvie fired a round at the window, but it ended like any other attempts, "Oh c'mon!"

"The glass won't break?" Sophia asked, nervously.

"What is this thing made of!" Noah shouted.

"Rick, I have something that might help." Carol said, walking over the sheriff deputy with her handbag.

"Carol, I don't think a nail file's gonna do it." Shane stated.

Ignoring Shane, Carol said, pulling out a grenade out of her handbag, "Your first morning at camp, when I washed your uniform I found this in your pocket.''

Rick grabbed it and thanked with a nod, as he declared to the group, "Everybody get down!"

The sheriff deputy walked over to the window and crouched down. He glanced back to group to be sure that everyone was on the ground, or behind a cover. He held his breath as he pulled the pin and let go off the safety lever, deploying the granade in front of the window.

He let out a breath as he rushed back to the group, "Oh shit!"

The grenade went off, the wave sending Rick flying and falling on the floor. The window shattered, the glass making a loud noise at it collapsed on the floor.

Bridgette rose her head and could feel relief overcoming her body, "Oh my gosh... it's open!"

Everyone jumped on their feet and ran out through the now shattered window. The grass was still covered by dead bodies and walkers still lurking around in the background. As the group was making their way towards the vehicles, Shane shot one of them down with his shotgun, Rick got rid of one of them as well with his Python, Daryl cut the head of one of them with his axe, Izzy stabbed one of them in the head with her hunting knife, and Alejandro smashed one with his baseball.

The group reached their vehicles. Chris and Chef got themselves into the truck, DJ, Duncan, Izzy and Owen went into the car they got from the gas station at the start of all of this, Shane and Alejandro got themselves in the front seats of the jeep as Noah and Ezekiel hopped onto the back of the same vehicle, T-Dog, Courtney, Carol and Sophia went to the Carol's car, Daryl went to his motorcycle, Rick, Glenn, Lori, Carl, Bridgette, Gwen, Heather, Leshawna, Harold, Cody and Sierra went to Dale's RV.

It was when they saw Dale, Andrea and Tyler, all three of them coming out through the window.

"Look, there they are!" DJ shouted, looking quite happy that Dale conviced Andrea and Tyler to leave.

Dale, Andrea and Tyler began making their way over to their group, but there wasn't enough time and Lori realized it. She poked her head through the window and shouted, "Guys, get down!"

''Get back! Everybody down!" Rick shouted as everyone in the RV fell on the floor.

As Dale, Andrea and Tyler took shelter behind the sand bag, everyone ducked in their vehicles. A huge fireball builded up inside the CDC. building until it filled the entire place. The heat blasted out the windows, setting fire to everything around it, exploading tanks, cars, trucks, everything it touched. The explosion expanded itself until the roof disintegrated and the building imploded on itself.

Everyone lifted their heads up to see the what remained of the CDC building as Dale reached down for Andrea and Tyler, "Come on. Come on.''

Glenn opened the door in the RV as the trio made their way over to the vehicle, "Get in!"

All three of them got into the RV. Andrea and Tyler sat down, both of them crying, as the blond haired woman gave the eldery man the look of anger as Tyler was receiving a lecture of what he was thinking from Bridgette, Gwen, Leshawna, Harold, Cody and Sierra.

It was just a moment before Rick started the RV, and drove away, the entire group following him and driving away from what used to be the CDC building.

It was when Edwin Jenner's words came back to him as the group was driving down the road. It made him feel more uncomfortable than he already was. He recalled what the doctor whispered to him and he wished he hadn't known about that, because he knew he had to find a way how to tell it to the group.

_We're all infected._

* * *

**Welp, we're done with season 1, and on the way we go to season 2.**


	7. What Lies Ahead

Everybody was still feeling rather uneasy because of what happened in CDC. The group was now heading to Fort Benning. It was the only idea they had after the CDC had exploded, at least for now. Rick and his family were driving along the highway in Carol's car with her and her daughter.

''I was just thinking about our trip to the grand canyon with Carl." Lori spoke up from the passager seat, a smile appearing on her face at the memory.

Rick looked over from the drivers seat and let out a laugh as Carl looked up at the two in confusion, as he sat in the backseat, "I don't remember that."

"No, you wouldn't. You were just a baby." Lori said as she turned to look at him, "Besides,we never made it past Fort Worth."

"No,you got sick. I never knew a baby could throw up so much." Rick laughed again.

''Ick." Carl said as Sophia made a face.

"Yeah,ick." Lori laughed, "The doctor in Texas said you'd live. Then we turned around and drove home."

"That sucks." Carl stated.

''No,it was a good trip." Lori said, as she patted Rick's thigh.

"The best." Rick said, as he grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze, before putting it back on the wheel.

"Can we go see it? The Grand Canyon? I'd like to." Carl said.

"I would too." Sophia added, "Can we go?"

''We'd never go without you and your mom." Rick said, looking behind him, to which Carol smiled, "That's a promise."

In the RV in front of them, Shane was sitting at the small table behind the driver's seat, cleaning his handgun while Andrea, Cody and Sierra sat in front of him, curiously watching. He looked over at them, seeing them studying his hands.

"Looks complicated." Andrea said with a smile.

"The trick is getting all these pieces back together the same way. I could clean yours, show you how." Shane said, looking over at her, reaching over to Andrea's bag next to him and pulling out her pistol. He pulled the barrel back, making sure the chamber was clean before letting it slide into the place. He was clearly satisfied with it. He aimed it down the small walkway to the back of the RV. At the place where Bridgette, Leshawna and Harold were having a conversation, "Oh yeah. It's a sweet piece.''

''It was a gift. From my father." Andrea began explaining, smilling, "He gave it to me just before Amy and I including Dylan,Grayson and Alexandria took off on our road trip. He said two girls and three kids on their own should be able to defend themselves."

''Smart man, your father." Shane stated, as he looked over at Sierra and Cody, "We're gonna have to teach you how to use them. You need to know how to defend yourself.

Cody nodded his head, knowing that in what the world became over last few months, he'd have to know how to fire a handgun sooner or later, as Sierra said, looking interested in being teached how to use it, "If you say so, Shane."

Shane turned back to Andrea and her gun, " Look,it's a-it's a limited capacity. See? Only holds seven rounds.''

''Oh jeez." Dale said, making Shane turn around to him.

"Oh no." Glenn said from the passager seat as Shane got up from his seat.

"Oh, this is just great..." Heather muttered to herself, shaking her head, as Shane stopped next to her so he could have a look at what they just came across. The road ahead of them was filled abandoned cars on the either side of the highway. Even the grassy median had cars and trucks in it.

Daryl rode his brother bike and stopped next to the drivers window of the RV, as Dale shouted over to him, "See a way through?"

The younger Dixon looked over his shoulder before looking back to the old man. He nodded his head and rode past the cars, around the RV to get back in front of them.

"You better find a way through, otherwise there's going to be a problem with the truck!" They heard Chris shout from the back of the convoy of their group.

Glenn looked over at the map in front of them, trying to find a way how to get past these vehicles, as Daryl made his way back to the front, ''Uh, maybe we should just go back there's an interstate bypass."

"I don't think it's a good idea, Glenn." Harold stated, as he joined them in the front.

"We can't spare fuel." Dale added.

"Jeez..." Glenn said, looking around. Some of the cars were on their sides, or completely flipped over. There were dead bodies in some of them as they drove past, "Can we get through here?"

Out of the sudden, the RV's engine started sputtering and smoking, just in time when Daryl had stopped when the area ahead of him was too packed with cars for him to fit through. Everyone got out of their vehicles.

"I said it. Didn't I say it?" Dale said as he walked out of the door, around the front of the RV, "A thousand times. Dead in the water."

"Problem, Dale?" Shane asked, as made his way around the front with the rest of the group.

"Just a small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hope of..." Dale paused as he realized he was in the middle of a highway filled with cars, "Okay, that was dumb."

As Daryl and Duncan already started searching through the cars that were nearby, Shane said, "If you can't find a radiator hose here..."

''There's a whole bunch of stuff we can find." Daryl cut in, searching through the pink backpack he found in the car.

"Lots of useful stuff I bet." Duncan added, as he searched through the car, finding nothing interesting, at least in this car.

"I can siphon more fuel from these cars for a start." T-Dog said.

"Maybe some water." Carol said.

"Or some food." Owen added.

"This is a graveyard." Lori said, bringing everyone's attention to her.

"Lori's right. I don't know how to feel about this." Bridgette agreed.

"In case you haven't noticed, we are already low on fuel, food and water. I doubt those people will mind if we borrow their things." Duncan said, moving out to search more of those cars.

"All right, all right, here we go." T-Dog said as he walked back towards the RV with fuel cans. Alejandro walked behind him, carrying fuel cans as well.

''Come on, y'all. Just look around, gather what you can." Shane said. Rick nodded to everyone as they disbanded. He put the bag of guns in the trunk of a car and pulled out one of the rifles, deciding he'd be on the look out while they looked around.

''Hey, Tyler!" Harold called over for the jock who was on the top of the RV, keeping the watch, as Dale started teaching Glenn something as they started fixing the RV, "Do you want to switch? You've been on the watch for a while now."

Tyler's answer was instant, he got him off the roof of the RV, and walked past Harold, "If you want to."

"Are you alright, sugar?" Leshawna asked, receiving no answer from the red clothed teenager as he walked past her to search through the cars along with the rest of the group. After what happened in the CDC with him. He wasn't saying much since he almost commited suicide by staying in the building that was going to explode, and if it wasn't for Dale he probably wouldn't be with them now.

DJ sighed, watching Tyler leave, "I'm worried about him."

"Not only you, DJ." Bridgette stated.

Rick looked around through the binoculars as Dale came to him at the back of the RV. He handed them to Dale as the old man climbed up the ladder to the top of the RV, joining Harold on the watch.

Several yards away, Alejandro put the bolt in his mouth to hold it while he used a crowbar he got from Daryl to open the gas hatch of a truck for T-Dog. He set down the fuel cans and a hose as he started siphoning the gas from the tank.

Carol was going through a suitcase in the back of the car when she held up a red dress. She smiled, when she saw it was her size. She held it over herself as she watched the cloth. She looked up to see Lori who was looking at her.

"Ed never let me wear nice things like this." She explained as she put the dress back in the suitcase before closing it, "We're gonna need clothes."

Lori picked up a large flashlight she found in the car as she walked past Carol, saying to her son, "Hey, Carl." Her son looked over at her, "Always within my sight, okay?"

''You too, Sophia." Carol said to her daughter, both of the mothers earning nods in response from their children.

Chris was searching through a minivan, digging through the suitcase which was mostly filed with clothes. There wasn't either food, or water in this car. He was about to go to another car but then he spotted something on the floor in the driver seat. It was a newspaper. The article it was opened at caught his attention. He picked the newspaper up and looked at the article.

" _Third season of the hit reality show Total Drama was_ _officially announced!"_

Letting out a sigh, the host of the said reality show set the newspaper on the driver seat. He'd never think that on the way of the third season of his reality show would end up like that. One moment they were on the way of the third season of a reality show that made him famous, but then the world has drastically changed. And how here he was, on a road filled with abandoned vehicles, searching for food and water.

Shaking his head, he moved to another vehicle, and this time something else caught his attention. It was a box. He opened it and could feel his eyes widening at what happened to be inside. It was a Glock 17.

"It appears that you found yourself a gun." Chef's voice rang through his ears as he turned over to him.

''You know I have no idea how to use it, right?" Chris asked.

Chef sighed, he and Shane were having talks about teaching everyone in the group how to use handguns, shotguns and other kinds of guns for a while now, "Pretty boy, you do realize you're gonna have to learn to how use it?"

"Let's just search through more cars." Chris said, making Chef roll his eyes as the two of them headed towards another car, the host cluthing the box with Glock.

Tyler pulled out a bottle of water from the car he was searching through as he went over to see if there was anything in the back. The only thing he thought was useful from the back of this car was a metal baseball bat.

" _Hm, this can become handy against those things._ " He thought to himself, as he took it out from the back of the car and swung his new weapon once to test it out.

"Yo, Tyler." Familiar voice rang through his ears as he turned around and saw DJ, Bridgette, Owen, Ezekiel and Izzy approaching him.

"What is it, guys? He asked them.

"We're worried about you." Bridgette told him, "Everyone in our group is."

"We want to know if you're okay after everything that had happened." Owen added.

"...I'm okay." Tyler answered after a moment through clenched teeth.

''It doesn't look like you're okay, Tyler..." Izzy was cut off.

"I said I'm okay!" Tyler repeated himself, as he turned around and walked away from them, to search for more useful things in these cars, "I had some bad thoughts in the CDC but Dale made me get rid of them! Can't you understand that I'm doing _okay_ now!''

The group of five that approached him stared at him with worried expressions on their faces as they watched him walk away from them.

Duncan whistled as he was trying to get a motorcycle he found in the middle of the highway running, as Daryl approached him, "What are you doing?"

"How does it look like?" Duncan asked the redneck, "I'm trying to get this machine running."

"Do you think it'll work?" Daryl said to him.

"I hope so." Duncan told him, "My cousin got himself one. He was letting me borrow it from time to time, before all of this shit happened."

Daryl nodded his head and was about to walk away as Duncan asked him, "Do you know how to get this thing running? I saw you and your brother fix the one you're riding now after something it was broken back in your camp in Atlanta."

The younger Dixon rolled his eyes as he moved over to the juvie, "Let me have a look."

Shane had walked off with Glenn, going with him to find a matching radiator hose. They were joined by Alejandro as the spanish teenager had brought with him gas cans filled with gas as T-Dog went to search for more of them, and Noah who found some books that caught his attention. Rick walked further in the front of the RV, looking out at the group and all the cars as Andrea and Courtney walked back to the RV, feeling sick in their stomachs at the things around them.

Rick looked behind at Dale and Harold at the top of the RV. The eldery man was watching the highway through the binoculars, "It's all good."

Andrea sat down around the table in the RV, looking at the parts of Shane's gun laying across the the table, "Okay." She said as she started picking the parts, trying to reassemble the gun to get her mind off the the things around her. The CIT sat in the seat in front of her.

"Come on." Glenn said, trying to unscrew a hose from a moving van he was at. Shane and Alejandro stood by his side, while Noah sat on the ground, reading one of the books he found in one of those abandoned vehicles. Then, Shane spotted a large truck in front of him. He set his shotgun down, letting it rest at the back of the truck as he walked to the side of it. He grabbed the hatch and lifted it up, revealing the crates that were filled 5 gallon water jugs.

"Hey, Glenn, Alejandro, Noah." He as all three mentioned people looked over at him, "Were we short on water?" He unscrewed the cap from one of the jugs. He pulled it off and threw it behind, letting some water fell onto his head. Alejandro quickly walked over to him and did the same with another jug. Shane, Glenn and Alejandro laughed, as Noah rolled his eyes, knowing that they were wasting water.

"Hey, save me some!" Glenn shouted to Shane and Alejandro.

"It's like being baptized, man." Shane stated.

"This is nice." Alejandro said as some water flowed down, as he opened his mouth, drinking some fresh water.

"You're telling me, kid." Shane smile, giving Alejandro a pat on his back.

Dale and Harold smiled from the roof of the RV, watching them over. They turned around. Dale narrowed his eyes when he saw some movement in the distance between the cars behind the RV. He brought binoculars to his eyes, before handing them to Harold a moment later.

"Rick, there's a problem." The nerdy teenager said to the sheriff deputy.

Hearing Harold's words, Rick looked through the scope of his rifle in the same direction. He spotted one walker, knowing that he has to deal with him, he pulled on bolt handle, making sure there was a bullet in the chamber. He prepared himself for the shot but then another one appeared in his sight. Thinking there were only one of them, he was about to pull the trigger but then more of them came into his view. There wasn't only two. There was an entire group of them!

"Oh, Christ." Rick said, lowering the rifle down. He quickly began making his to the group to warn them about the incoming group as Dale and Harold dropped on their knees on top of the RV before laying down.

The sheriff deputy ran over to his wife, and whispered to her, "Lori, under the cars."

''Carl, Sophia, get down now." He said to the two kids as he pointed on the ground, running to the car next to them. Both kids looked back, seeing the walkers, and followed him.

"Chris, Chef, under the car." Rick said to the two hosts who looked over to the RV and saw the walkers. Their response to that was immediate.

Carol was calling over for Carl and Sophia as she came up to Lori. Lori pushed the woman down and ushered her under a van with her, covering her mouth with her hand. Heather quickly hid herself under the car. Sierra grabbed Cody as they hid under a car, Leshawna doind the same with Gwen. DJ, Bridgette, Owen, Izzy and Ezekiel quickly hid under the nearby cars as well.

Rick got to the ground as he crawled himself under a car. He saw Carl and Sophia crawl under two vehicles across him.

Glenn was still working on unscrewing the radiator when Shane yanked his army and brought him under the car with him. Alejandro quickly grabbed Noah by his hand and quickly scooted both of them under a car. Noah and Glenn sounded their confusion to why would they do that, until they finally saw dozens of walkers coming their way.

Andrea and Courtney were still inside of the RV, the first one was still messing with Shane's gun, not realizing what was going on outside until they looked up and saw the walkers walking past the RV. They both gasped as they ducked down on the floor.

T-Dog was crouching down as he was trying to get himself away from the walkers who were only yards away from him. When a walker came close to him, he panicked and quickly ducked own, in his rush, he sliced his forearm open on the glass of the broken window. He grited his teeth in pain as he brought his hand on his wound to put the pressure on the wound, as she blood splattered around his shirt. He was getting weaker because of the blood loss, as he ran past the car, leaving a trail of fresh blood behind him. He stopped when a lone walker appeared in his path. He began backing up as the walkers started heading towards him. He tripped over the bag behind him, and fell on the ground,

When he thought it was over, Daryl and Duncan crouched down and made his way behind the walker, the younger Dixon setting his crossbow on the ground. He wrapped his free hand around the walker as he stabbed it with his knife, the lifeless body of the undead fell on the ground. T-Dog looked up at the two of them with wide eyes as Duncan grabbed him by his legs, and took him to Daryl while the redneck grabbed the walker he just killed and laid it on T-Dog, covering his body, then the juvie quickly hid himself under a car as Daryl took out the walker from the front seat of the car under which Duncan hid, and laid it down on himself to cover his body.

Fortunely, the walkers didn't noticed them and walked right past them.

In the RV, Andrea and Courtney hid in the bathroom and could hear how one of the walkers just walked into the RV. Andrea was trying to reassemble the gun as fast as she could as she and the CIT could feel the walker approaching the bathroom. She cursed when she realized that she must've dropped one part. They both gasped in fear as the walker began pushing the door. They brought their feets and tried to hold it back, screaming in fear.

Dale and Harold who were on top of the RV heard their screams and crawled to the small window, which was slightly open, only to see them trying to hold the walker back. The two women looked up at them as Dale dug into his pocked, pulling out a screwdriver. He threw it down to Andrea who grabbed it and held it as a weapon in front of her and she and Courtney were still trying to keep the walker from breaking into the bathroom. Andrea decided to stand up as Courtney got her feet of the door, allowing the walker to open the door. When it did, Andrea pushed it into the wall, stabbing it into it eye socket. She brought it down on the floor, stabbing it until it was dead, blood splattering all over her clothes, while Courtney watched, horrified.

Rick kept his eyes on the children as the last walkers made their way past the cars, but everyone decided to stay under them for a few more moments, just in case. Sophia was about to crawl out from under the truck she was under when a walker appeared from a car behind the truck. She shrieked as she crawled back under the car, but when the walker dropped down and started crawling towards her, she crawled to the other side and began running into the woods as the walker, who was quickly joined by the other one chased her.

Everyone immediately reacted to that and got out from under the cars, with Carol saying, "Lori. There's two walkers after my baby."

Rick quickly went after Sophia to get her. He was getting further and further into the forest until he finally saw her, running away from the two walkers, sobbing. He quickly ran towards the area she was heading, and luckilly, he came in the good moment, as he saw her trip over a root of a tree. She quickly launched herself back on her feet and started running away, only to run into Rick.

"Shh! Shh!" Rick said as held her. He knelt down to make sure she was okay, "Are you all right? Are you okay?"

Sophia nodded her head, as she reached towards his Python, "Shoot them!"

''No. No! Those walkers on the road would hear it. Then it wouldn't be just two, it'd be hundreds."Rick stated as he picked it up and carried her until he found a good place for her to hide. He told her to stay there, telling he'd get her once he'll deal with the walkers, "Sophia, you have to do exactly as I say. Hide in there. Squeeze in tight. I'll draw them away from you."

"No no, don't leave me." Sophia shook he rhead.

"Listen. They don't get winded I do. I can only deal with them one at a time. I wouldn't be able to protect you. This is how we both survive. You understand?" Rick told her, to which she nodded her head in understanding, "Okay? Go go go go. If I don't make it back, run back to the highway, back to the others straight the way we came. Keep the sun on your left shoulder!"

Sophia ran into the hiding place Rick told her to stay into as the sheriff deputy began leading the walkers away from her, ''Come on! You ugly son of a bitch! Come on! Come on!''

* * *

Sophia was not found in the spot Rick placed her at. The group consisting of Rick, Shane, Daryl, Glenn, Chef, Chris, Izzy and Alejandro was sent to invstage and to find anything that will help them find Sophia.

'' Sure this is the spot?" Daryl asked.

"I left her right here. I drew the walkers way off in that direction up that creek." Rick explained.

"Without a paddle-seems where we've landed." Daryl stated.

"She was gone by the time I got back here." Rick explained, "I figured she just took off and ran back to the group. I told her go that way. And keep the sun on her left shoulder."

''Hey, celebrity, why don't you step off to one side?" Daryl said to Chris as the host turned over to the redneck, "You're mucking up the trail."

''Assuming she knows her left from her right." Shane stated.

"Shane, she understood me fine." Rick told his best friend.

"Kid's tired and scared,man. She had her a close call with two walkers. Got to wonder how much of what you said stuck." Shane replied.

"Hey!" Izzy called out as everyone turned over to her, "Got clear prints right here. She did like you said,headed back to the highway."

"We should spread out, make our way back." Chef stated.

''She couldn't have gone far." Shane stated.

"I'm sure we're going to find her. She is most likely going to be tuckered out hiding in a bush somewhere." Alejandro said.

As the entire group continued their search for Sophia they came across more and more footprints, as Daryl stated, "She was doing just fine till right here. All she had to do was keep going. She veered off that way."

"Why would she do that?" Glenn asked.

"Maybe there was something that made her scared her and made her leave." Alejandro assumed.

"A walker?" Glenn guessed.

"I don't think so, Glenny. I don't see any other footprints." Izzy said, keeping her eyes on the ground, following the footprints, "Just hers."

''So what do we do? All of us press on?" Shane asked.

"No, better if you, Chris, Alejandro and Glenn get back up to the highway." Rick said as the mentioned people looked over at him in confusion, thinking why would he want them to go back, "People are gonna start panicking. Let them know we're on her trail doing everything we can. But most of all,keep everybody calm."

''I'll keep 'em busy scavenging cars. Think up a few other chores. I'll keep 'em occupied." Shane said as he started making his way to the highway where their group was waiting for the news if they found Sophia or not. Of course, the first option was the one they'd welcome with open arms, especially Carol. Alejandro, Chris and Glenn followed him as Daryl, Rick, Chef and Izzy kept looking for the little girl.

* * *

Back on the highway, everyone was working in different areas. DJ and Bridgette were looking for stronger medicine, concerned for T-Dog and his cut, Ezekiel, Gwen and Leshawna were helping them. Tyler was keeping them watch on Dale's RV, while Dale was working on getting the radiator house installed, Harold was helping him. Duncan was still trying to get the motorcycle he found on the highway running. Shane along with Alejandro, and Chris were clearing the road the cars. Everyone else was searching through the cars.

Well, everyone except for Carol who couldn't take her eyes off the forest, when she finally turned, she walked over to Dale and Harold and asked, "Why aren't we all out there looking? Why are we moving cars?"

''We have to clear enough room so we can get the RV turned around as soon as it's running." Dale explained.

"Now that we have fuel we can double back to a bypass that Glenn flagged on the map." Harold added.

"Going back's going to be easier than trying to get through this mess." Shane stated.

"We're not going anywhere till my daughter gets back." Carol said.

"Hey, that goes without saying.'' Lori said, setting down a small box of supplies.

"Rick, Chef, Daryl and Izzy are looking for her. It's just a matter of time." Chris stated, overhearing the conversation. If there was anyone able to track someone, then it was definitely Chef and Izzy.

"Can't be soon enough for me. I'm still freaked out from that herd that passed us by,or whatever you'd call it." Andrea spoke up, taking a sip of water, Courtney nodding her head in agreement.

"Yeah, what was that? All of them just marching along like that." The CIT added, having some memories of it back when she was stuck in Atlanta.

"It was just like in Atlanta." Alejandro said, shaking his head, having a chance to be there as well. He cringed at the memory of when he, Rick, Glenn and Tyler had to be covered in guts of some guy and walk through the streets filled with walkers. He could only think what would his hated brother Jose think about it.

''And in our camp." Noah said, as he joined the conversation, hearing Tyler sigh from the top of the RV, "These things started forming herds."

"Herd?" Shane said with smirk, "That sounds about right. It is just as all of you said. We've seen it. Some wandering pack, only fewer."

Then, out of the sudden, everyone heard the sound of a motorcycle's engine, which was quickly followed by Duncan shouting, "Oh, yeah!"

Everyone that was a part of the conversation looked around themselves, before Shane, and Alejandronwalked over to Duncan who was already having a conversation with Owen.

"Wow, dude." Owen said to Duncan, looking down at what most likely was going to be Duncan's new vehicle, remembering that Duncan was having a bike that he turned into something similiar to the motorcycle, but this time it wasn't a bike, it was a real motorcycle, "It's just like during the competition with the bikes!"

Duncan laughed, knowing that he was going to enjoy his new ride, "You can say that."

"Do you remember when Lindsay snapped at Heather?" Owen asked, he and the juvie laughed at the memory. These two were good friends, despise Duncan sometimes doing some questionable actions towards him. But Owen's smile faded from his face when he remembered what happened to Lindsay when the walkers attacked the camp. Duncan was about to say something about it, but a familiar voice interrupted them.

"You actually got this thing running?" Alejandro said, approaching the juvie and the winner of the first season.

''As you can see." Duncan said, gesturing towards the motorcycle, "Everyone's favourite redneck helped me a bit."

Shane smiled, seeing the teenagers having a nice moment with each other, but then he remembered the true reason why everyone was working. To stop the panic, "Okay. Come on,people. We still got a lot to do. Let's stay on it. Let's go,come on."

* * *

Rick, Daryl, Chef and Izzy continued to follow Sophia's trail but it was getting harder and harder to follow.

''Tracks are gone." Rick said in defeated tone.

"No, they're faint, but they ain't gone." Daryl stated, "She came through here."

"How can you tell? I don't see anything. Dirt, grass." Rick asked, confused as Izzy and Chef seemed to be find her trail again.

Izzy opened her mouth to respond, but Daryl responded for her, "You want a lesson in tracking or you want to find that girl and get our ass off that interstate?''

The group of four heard some rustiling which came from the grass. Daryl readied his crossbow, while Izzy readied her hunting knife. They moved towards the sound and saw a walker, Izzy walked over to the undead, and stabbed it with her hunting knife, ending it's life.

"Sophia!" Daryl called over to see if Sophia's was nearby.

"Are in here, girl!" Chef also called over for her, but neither of them got answer. The co-host of Total Drama walked over to now lifeless body of the walker and kneeled down before it, checking it for some reason.

"What are you doing?" Daryl asked him.

"Skin under the fingernails. It fed recently." Chef stated, looking down in the walkers mouth, "There's flesh caught in it's teeth."

''What kind of flesh?" Daryl asked, kneeling down beside Chef.

"Only one way to know for sure.'' Rick said, he and Izzy got on their knees as well, starting to pull the walkers shit open.

''Here, I'll do it." Daryl said, as he turned to Izzy, "Give me your knife."

Izzy shook her head, "No, let me do it."

Chef looked over at Izzy, "Are you sure about this?"

"Yes." Izzy said with a nod of her head, redying her knife. She jammed the blade into the walkers stomach. She began to cut through the stomach and put the skin and muscles away so they could get to the stomach itself. As the chest was open, she nodded her head at Daryl, as the redneck put some gloves and began to pull out the guys so he could get to the stomach.

When he finally felt it, he said, "Yeah,hoss had a big meal not long ago. I feel it in there."

He set the stomach down as Izzy handed him her knife, allowing him to cut the stomach open, as Rick, even Chef were looking disgusted by the sight, "Here's the gut bag."

''I got this." Rick said, as he cut the stomach open and poured the contenst on the ground. Daryl, using Izzy's knife dug through until he found a bone. He picked it up with the tip of the blade and showed it off to the rest.

"This gross bastard had himself a woodchuck for lunch." He stated.

"At least we know." Chef said.

"At least we know." Daryl agreed, as he got the piece off Izzy's knife before handing it back to it's owner

* * *

Hours later, when the sun was going down, all four of them walked back to the camp. On the highway everyone sat concerned for Sophia as well for the sake that it was almost dark. Andrea and Bridgette stood with crying Carol, trying to comfort the woman who was slowly losing hope.

Jus then, Rick, Chef, Izzy and Daryl came out of the forest and walked towards the group. Carol sat on the guardrail as she saw Sophia wasn't with them, waiting for the response from the group.

"We lost the trail in the dark." Chef told her, plain and true.

"We'll pick it up again at first light." Rick added.

"You can't leave my daughter out there on her own to spend the night alone in the woods." Carol said in tears.

"Out in the dark's no good. We'd just be tripping over ourselves. More people get lost." Daryl stated.

"But she's 12. She can't be out there on her own. You didn't find anything?" Carol said, now crying.

"We know she was out there. We tracked her for a while." Izzy told Carol.

Carol's eyes went to Daryl's pants, which were covered in blood, "Is that blood?"

''We found a walker, and took care of it." Chef answered.

"Walker? Oh my god." Carol said, covering her mouth.

"There was no sign it was ever anywhere near your daughter." Chef assured her.

"How can you know that?" Andrea raised her brow.

"We cut the son of a bitch open, made sure" Daryl answered.

Carol held her stomach for a moment, trying not to threw up as Bridgette and Andrea just stared in shock at the revelation, looking up at Rick, "How could you just leave her out there to begin with? How could you just leave her?"

"Those two walkers were on us. I had to draw them off. It was her best chance." Rick explained.

"Sounds like he didn't have a choice, Carol." Shane defended his best friend.

''How was she supposed to find her way back on her own? She's just a child. She's just a child." Carol said.

''It was my only option. The only choice I could make." Rick tried to comfort her.

" I'm sure nobody doubts that." Shane stated.

"My little girl got left in the woods." Carol collapsed into tears. Rick stood up and wandered off to clear his head, he couldn't help but feel like it was his fault.

* * *

The next day, Rick had everyone gathered around as Shane dropped the bag of weapons Carl found in the car the other day, and picked up the machete, which was followed by Alejandro picking up a tomahawk, the spanish teen knowing it'll be a better weapon then a baseball bat.

''Everybody takes a weapon." Rick declared to the group.

"These aren't the kind of weapons we need. What about the guns?" Andrea asked.

"We've been over that. Daryl, Rick, Duncan, Chef, and I are carrying. We can't have people popping off rounds every time a tree rustles." Shane answered.

"It's not the trees I'm worried about." Andrea told him, crossing her arms.

"Say somebody fires at the wrong moment,a herd happens to be passing by. See,then it's game over for all of us. So you need to get over it." Shane said.

"The idea is to take the creek up about five miles,turn around and come back down the other side. Chances are she'll be by the creek. It's her only landmark." Chef added.

"Stay quiet and stay sharp. Keep space between you but always stay within sight of each other.'' Rick added.

"Everybody assemble your packs." Shane said as the group started packing up. Chef rested his shotgun on his shoulder as she walked over to the box with Glock 17 Chris found yesterday. He opened the box and took out everything he was going to need before putting it in a safe place in his pants.

''Dale, Harold, keep on those repairs. We've got to get this RV ready to move." Rick said to Dale and Harold. These two along with Owen, Heather, Cody, Sierra, Noah and T-Dog were staying behind to keep the guard of the vehicles.

"We won't stay here a minute longer than we have to. Good luck out there. Bring Sophia back'' Dale told him, with Harold nodding his head in agreement.

"I'm going with you." Carl said, firmly, as Rick looked down at him, "You need people,right? To cover as much ground as possible."

Rick looked over at Lori who shrugged her shoulders, "Your call. I can't always be the bad guy."

''Well,he has all of you to look after him. I'd say he's in good hands." Dale said.

"Okay." Rick nodded his head at his son, "But always within our sight, no exceptions."

* * *

A few hours later, the group walked deeper into the forest. Daryl, Chef, Duncan and Izzy lead the way, watching the ground for the trails, as the other continued to look around for Sophia.

Carl pulled out a small pocket knife that his dad gave him before slowing down so he could talk with Shane, "Shane, look. Dad said I could carry it and mom said as long as I was..."

''Keep it down. We're looking for Sophia. You need to focus on the task." Shane cut him off harshly.

Carl's head dropped down as he walked back to Lori, "You okay?"

"I think Shane's mad at me. Did I do something wrong?" Carl asked.

"No. No, honey, I promise you. He's just-he's worried about Sophia." Lori said, reassuringly.

Back ahead, Daryl let out a whistle and pointed to Chef, Izzy and Duncan to move forward. Ahead of them was a campsite that had a large yellow tent. Chef turned back and motioned everyone to get down. The group obliged and everyone got down, as Rick moved forward.

"She could be in there." He said.

"Could be a whole bunch of things in there." Duncan stated.

Rick motioned Carol to come over, as the woman quickly walked over to him, "Carol. Call out softly. If she's in there,yours is the first voice she should hear."

Carol nodded her head, and called out softly, "Sophia, sweetie,are you in there? Sophia, it's mommy. Sophia. We're all here,baby. It's mommy."

Everyone waited, but no one came out. Daryl and Duncan walked over to the tent. The younger Dixon unzipped the tent and pulled the flap open, nodding his head at the juvie. Duncan nodded his head as he slowly walked into the tent. He coughed in disgust at the view of rotting corpse as he spotted a revolver laying on the ground. He picked it up. He walked out of the tent, covering his nose, wanting to get rid of the small as fast as possible.

"Duncan?" Carol asked him.

"It ain't her." Duncan shook his head.

"What's in there?" Gwen asked.

"Some guy. Did what the suicidal scientist said opted out." Duncan answered, " Ain't that what he called it?"

Suddenly the group started to hear church bells ringing, as Chef turned the right, "This way!"

He started running into the forest with the entire group following him. If they heard it, then maybe Sophia would too.

* * *

The group reached a clearing where church sat. The balls had stopped as the group paused for a moment, staring at the group, with Shane saying, "That can't be it. Got no steeple, no bells."

"Pretty boy." Chef said to Chris who nodded his head. The host took hold of the handle while Shane, Daryl, Duncan, and Chef readied their weapons. As Chris opened them, all of them saw three walkers inside. All three of them turned around, letting out some snarls at the view of them. Tyler immediately walked in at the view of them and brought his new metal baseball bat down at one of them, taking it out. He then turned around and saw Izzy stabbing one of them with her hunting knife while Rick took care of the third one.

"Sophia!" The sheriff deputy called out for the little girl as he ran to the side doors looking outside, not seeing her anywhere.

''Yo, J.C, you taking requests?" Daryl asked, looking over at the statue of Jesus Christ.

Duncan laughed, "Good one."

As Rick ran back inside, Shane immediately walked over to him, ''I'm telling you, it's the wrong church. It's got no steeple ,Rick. There's no steeple."

Just then, the bells began to ring again, coming from the building they were standing in. The group ran outside, as DJ spotted what was making this noise. It was an automated bell alarm. He saw Glenn walk over to it and cut the power box.

''A timer. It's on a timer." Leshawna stated.

''I'm gonna go back in for a bit." Carol said as she went back inside the church, as the rest of the group either followed her inside, or stayed outside.

Lori saw Shane walk out of the church. She followed him outside, and asked him, but before that, she made sure nobody would hear it, "Are you really leaving?"

His response was, ''Don't you think it's best for all of us?"

" I think it is." Lori stated, "What made you decide?"

"Gotta back away. Just trying to be the good guy here, Lori,even if you don't see it." Shane told her, "None of this was intended. I hope you know that. Well,don't matter. As long as I said it."

''You're just gonna disappear? You're not even gonna tell Rick?" She wanted to know.

''He'd only try to stop me. You tell him what you want. Or tell him nothing at all. You're his wife." Shane answered.

"And Carl? We dragged him into this?" Lori asked another question.

''I love Carl." Shane's answer was instant.

"He thinks you hate him." Lori pointed out.

"I'm trying to put some distance. I'm trying to make this easier. This ain't easy on any of us,least of all me. I'm the one who loses you." Shane told Lori, before walking away from her.

As Shane walked away from Lori, neither of them was aware that Tyler and Andrea overheard their conversation and about Shane's plans. These two walked over to him, intending to have a talk with him about it.

"I'm coming with you." Andrea told him.

"So do I." Tyler added.

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about." Shane told them both, shaking his head.

"We're not stupid or deaf Shane." Tyler said in response.

"Look, neither of us know the story..." Andrea was cut off by Shane.

"There is **no** story." He interrupted her.

"Fine, I don't care." Andrea said.

"I don't care about it either." Tyler added, "Look, Shane, I and Andrea had a talk about it, last night. We care about is getting out of here. As far away as we can, like you."

''We're gonna sail off into the sunset together?" Shane asked them both.

"All we're asking is for a ride. to start over somewhere else. You observe this group lately? I have. I see three people who don't belong. We're the odd men out. Between the two of us, we make a great third wheel." Andrea answered, taking a quick glance around the group.

''So what? Say we do, we just run off. What's in it for me except for the extra asses I got to cover?" Shane asked them.

"The chance to do something for someone else." Andrea said, with Tyler nodding his head in agreement, "And a door that swings both ways. Put a gun in my hand, I'll cover your ass too."

"What about you?" Shane asked Tyler, "Do you know how to shot?"

"No." Tyler shook his head, "But I'm willing to learn. As long as I'm going to be able to kill those things."

"Think it over." Andrea said. She and Tyler walked away from Shane, letting him to have to think about taking them with him.

Shane sighed, watching them leave, as finally after ten minutes of being inside of the church, his best friend walked out. He had to talk with him. They had only a few hours of daylight left, "Got to move here, man. These people are spent. There's only so many hours of daylight left. We still got a long way back."

''I can't stop yet." Rick shook his head.

"We still got a lot of ground to cover,whole other side of the creek bed." Shane pointed out, "So we search that on the way back."

''She would have heard those church bells. She could be nearby." Rick said to him.

"She could be a lot of things." Shane said, pessimistically.

''I can't go back. Her being out here is my fault." Rick told him.

''That's great. Now they got you doubting yourself, huh?" Shane asked him.

''What about you? You doubt me?" Rick asked his best friend.

"Hey,we can assign all kinds of blame..." Shane began saying.

''This means something, finding her. It would be the miracle we need. We can't give up." Rick said, nearly begging.

Shane gave him a nod as he returned to the group, followed by Rick, "Mmm. Ahem. Y'all gonna follow the creek bed back, okay? Daryl, you're in charge. Me, Rick, Chef and Chris we're just gonna hang back,search this area another hour or so just to be through."

"You're splitting us up. You sure?" Daryl asked him, as Chef and Chris stood up from the benches and walked over to Shane and Rick. Chef had his shotgun in ready, as Chris held the machete strongly in his grip, unaware that Chef had the Glock he found yesterday in a car, just in case if he'd have to give it to the host.

''Yeah, we'll catch up to you." Shane assured him.

''I want to stay too." Carl said, as Rick looked a bit torn about it, "I'm her friend."

Thankfully, Lori quickly said, "Just be careful, okay?"

As Carl ran over to Rick's side, his father stepped forward to give Lori his Python, "Here, take this. Remember how to use it?"

Lori shook her head, "I'm not taking your gun and leaving you unharmed."

''Here, got a spare. Found it in a tent." Duncan said, taking out a revolver he found in the tent. Rick gave the juvie a thankful nod as Carl hugged Lori. With that the group headed out back ot the highway.

* * *

Minutes later, Rick exited the church and lead Shane, Chef, Chris and Carl into the forest. As they looked around for Sophia, they spotted a beautiful sight. A deer walking through the forest. It looked at them and instead of running away, it just stared at them. Slowly, Carl took a step forward as he began his way towards it to pet it. Shane, Chef and Chris smiled while Rick stared in amazement. Perharps it was the sight he had asked for.

Suddenly a bullet ripped through the deer and it went right into Carl's stomach. Everyone's faces went to suprise, then from suprise to pure horror.

An overweighted man appeared in their sight. He stared at what he had just done in horror, "Oh my god..."

* * *

**Welp, here we go with season 2. Even though it was one of my favourite ones, I'm looking forward towards writing it with Total Drama characters, I have something planned for some of them, and I hope you'll like it!**

**You know, as I am rewatching the show now, I forgot how much I hated Lori back in the old days of this show...**

**If you're wondering how Duncan's new motorcycle looks like, just image it looks like the motorcycle Deacon St John from a game called Days Gone got at the start of the game.**


	8. Bloodletting

Rick couldn't remember the last time when he ran that fast. The sheriff deputy ran way ahead of the group with his wounded son in his arms. Shane, Chef and Chris all ran as fast as they could behind him, trying to catch up to him. The man who accidently shot Carl was running along with them. They learned that his name was Otis, and that he came from a farm where there was someone that could save Carl.

The group of men didn't had much choice but to trust Otis because they didn't really had many options now.

As they proceeded to run along the fields it was becoming quite obvious for them that the overweighted man was out of his breath, as he was now practically stumbling forward while the others were running. Shane and Chef grabbed him by his clothes and pushed him forward.

"Hey, you move, shithead. Come on. Get us there." Shane told to Otis, holding him by his clothes.

"Get up, soldier! You'll rest later!" Chef added, as he and Shane let go off Otis' clothes and proceeded to run as fast they could to the farm Otis told them about.

''How far? How far?!" Rick asked, as he turned to Otis for a second, but didn't stop.

"Another half mile that way..." Otis took a small pause to catch breath, "...Hershel. Talk to Hershel. He'll help your boy."

The overweighted man stopped on the field to catch another breath as Shane and Chef went over to him to get him moving again as Rick didn't stop and continued to run towards the farm, running ahead of Chris who was running closely behind him.

At the farm house, a young girl sat on the porch and saw the two men in the distance running towards the house. She took out her binoculars and called for her dad the moment she saw Carl.

As her dad along with a few other people walked outside of the house, he called over for Rick and Chris, "Was he bit?"

"No. He was shot." Chris answered as he and Rick ran up to them, "The guy who shot him told me he was with you."

"Otis?" A woman asked as everyone walked over to them.

''He said find Hershel is that you?" Rick asked as Hershel approached him, earning a nod of confirmation from the eldery man, "Help me. Help my boy."

"Everyone get inside." Hershel instantly commanded as he lead everyone into the house into a bedroom, "Patricia, I need my full kit. Maggie, painkillers ,coagulates, grab everything." He said as he tossed the covers away as Rick quickly laid his son down on the bed, "Pillowcase.''

"I-is he alive?" The sheriff deputy asked, desperately wanting to know if his son was alive.

"Pillowcase, quick." Hershel repeated himself, as Chris quickly got him one of the pillowcases.

"Is he alive?" Rick repeated his question as everyone from Hershel's house started setting the medical equiqment in front of the bed.

Not answering to Rick's question, yet, Hershel told to Chris, "Fold it. Make a pad. Put pressure on the wound.''

Chris did as he was told to. As he pressed the pillowcase against Carl's gunshot wound, Hershel listened to a heartbeat, "I've got a heartbeat. It's faint''

This information made Rick let out a sigh of relief. His son was alive...

"I got it step back." Patricia said to Rick and Chris. Chris took his hands off the pillowcase and made space for Hershel and the rest while Rick was quite hesitant and took only one step backwards, his eyes not leaving his son. No one could really blame him for that.

"Your name?" Hershel asked them.

"Rick." Rick replied, shakily.

"Chris." Chris replied soon after.

"We're gonna do everything we can,okay? You need to give us some room." Hershel explained, turning his gaze away from Carl for a second to look at Rick, "Now."

It finally made Rick back away from the bed as the sheriff deputy slowly stepped backwards and joined Chris on the side of the room. He turned his head and looked out seeing Shane, Chef and Otis running up the driveway towards the house. Rick and Chris walked out of the room and went towards the porch.

As they came out onto the porch, Rick's face was completely pale as Chris had his clothes covered in blood, which he failed to notice, yet.

''He's alive? He's still alive?" Otis asked in worry for the kid he shot accidentally.

Rick didn't answer. The host of Total Drama had to answer for him, "They found a heartbeat."

The two men could hear how Shane, Chef and Otis all let out a sigh of relief as Shane looked down at Chris hands, "Hey, celebrity. You got blood on your hands."

Chris looked down at his bloodied hands, letting out a sigh, despise having a chance to use fake blood before, he never was a fan of the real one. The moment when he had to bash the walkers skull with a rock during the attack on the camp in Atlanta made him dislike it even more, "...I had to put pressure on Carl's wound."

Shane nodded his head in understanding as he took out a rag and handed it to the host, "Here. Take this."

"Is your son okay?" Chef asked Rick.

Chris immediately started wiping out the blood from his hands as Rick led everyone back into Carl's room where Hershel started to get things under control, as the farmer asked Rick, "You know his blood type?"

''A-positive,same as mine." Rick answered.

"That's fortunate. Don't wander far. I'm gonna need you." Hershel turned to Otis, "What happened?"

''I was tracking a buck. Bullet went through it." Otis explained in sadness.

''When clean through. The deer slowed the bullet down,which certainly saved his life. But it did not go through clean. It broke up into pieces. If I get the bullet fragments out..." Hershel stated, looking at Carl's wound, "And I'm counting six."

Chef cringed, recalling the moment back from his time in the army when one of his fellow soldiers was shot and they had to pull out every piece from his body, while he was still conscious.

Otis went over to Patricia, ''I never saw him,not until he was on the ground." He cried to her as she hugged him.

Rick was thinking to himself, while looking over at Carl and realized something, starting to cry, "My wife doesn't know. My wife doesn't know...''

* * *

The rest of the group was still looking for Sophia in the forest. Lori was worried that neither Rick or her son came back after all of them heard a gunshot a while ago.

"You still worrying about it?" Gwen asked, looking over at Lori.

"It was a gunshot." Lori pointed out.

"Yes we know." Duncan said.

"We all heard it." Daryl added.

"Why one? Why just one gunshot?" Lori asked, a bit worried.

"Eh, maybe they took down a walker?" Ezekiel guessed as he walked in the back of the group.

"Please don't patronize me. You know Rick wouldn't risk a gunshot to put down one walker." Lori said, growing more fearful as she talked about it, "Or Shane, and Chef. Chris only had a machete with him, they'd do it quietly."

''Shouldn't they have caught up with us by now?'' Carol asked.

"There's nothing we can do about it anyway. Can't run around these woods chasing echoes." Daryl stated.

"So what do we do?" Lori asked him.

"Same as we've been. Beat the bush for Sophia, work our way back to the highway." Daryl answered.

"I'm sure that our favourite cook with them they'll hook up with us back at the RV." Duncan stated.

Andrea and Tyler came up to Carol to side, as the blond haired woman said, "I'm sorry for what you're going through. I know how you feel."

"I suppose you do." Carol stated, recalling that Andrea and Tyler both lost someone important to them not that long ago, "Thank you. The thought of her out here by herself...It's the not knowing that's killing me. I just keep hoping and praying she doesn't wind up like Amy..." She paused when she realized what she said. Andrea gave her a look as Tyler gripped his metal baseball he found in one of the cars on the highway, "Oh god. That's the worst thing I ever said.''

Andrea decided to ignore how Carol mentioned Amy, and said, "We're all hoping and praying with you,for what it's worth."

'' I'll tell you what it's worth-not a damn thing. It's a waste of time all this hoping and praying..." Daryl stated.

Duncan cut him Daryl off as he looked over at him, angry over the time they wasted in the church, "Thank you! I thought I was the only one zen around here."

Daryl looked at Duncan for a second, then added, "We're gonna locate that little girl, she's gonna be just fine.''

The juvie nodded his head in agreement to that as he, along with Daryl walked over to Izzy who was ahead of the group, looking for any possible traces which would hopefully led them to Sophia.

"Find anything?" He asked her.

"No." Izzy shook her head.

* * *

Back at Hershel's farm, Rick, Shane, Chef and Chris sat in the living room. Rick and Shane were sitting on the couch while Chef and Chris were sitting on the chairs across from them.

"Why'd I let him come with his? I should have sent him with Lori." Rick said.

"You can't blame yourself for that." Chef spoke up as Rick looked over at him, "You had no idea that this would happen."

"Neither of us had." Chris added.

"That's right." Shane agreed with them, "You start that, you'll never get that monkey off your back."

Rick glanced over at his best friend, ''Little girl goes missing,you look for her. Simple. You said call it,head back."

''Doesn't matter what I said." Shane stated.

''Carl got shot because I wouldn't cut bait. It should be me in there." Rick said, shaking his head.

Shane chuckled, "You've been there,partner. Right? And you pulled through. So will he."

"Is that why I got out of that hospital? Found my family for it to end here like this?" Rick stated bitterly, "This some kind of sick joke?"

''You stop it. Just stop." Shane told him.

''A little girl goes missing..." Rick gave a long pause, "You look for her. It's plain and simple."

''Rick." Maggie called out, causing the four men to walk into the room. Inside Carl cried out in pain for his dad as Hershel was trying to pull out a fragment.

''He needs blood, You, two hold him down." Hershel said, looking to Shane and Chef who quickly ran over. Chef held Carl's legs in place as Shane put his hand over his chest. Carl began to scream even louder as Rick got his arm cleaned out while Hershel was close to pulling out a fragment.

"Almost there." He said, as Carl let out another long scream.

''Stop! You're killing him!" Rick cried out to the farmer.

"Rick,do you want him to live?" Hershel asked him.

''He needs blood." Patricia said quickly.

"Do it now!" Shane screamed as Patricia pushed a needle into Rick's arm.

"Now!" Chef shouted as Carl stopped screaming and closed his eyes. His head fell to the side as all four men looked at him in shock and fear.

"He just passed out." Hershel said to their relief as he pulled out a fragment, "One down... five to go."

Minutes later, after Rick finished his transfusion he thought of Lori again, "Lori needs to be here. She doesn't even know what's going on. I've got to go find her. Bring her back."

"You can't do that." Hershel explained.

"She's his mother. She needs to know what's happened. Her son's lying here shot." Rick stated.

"And he's going to need more blood. He can't go more than 50 feet from this bed." Hershel said firmly to him to which Chef, Shane and Chris nodded their heads.

They all walked out of the bedroom and went into the living room where Otis and Maggie were waiting for the news. The overwighted man asked them, "How is he?"

"He's stable." Chris answered.

"For now." Chef added to which Otis and Maggie let out sighs of relief.

"Lori has to be here guys, she has to know." Rick pleaded.

''Okay,I get that. I'm gonna handle it. But you've got to handle your end." Shane told his best friend.

"We're gonna take care of it." Chef assured the sheriff deputy, "But just as Shane said.. You've got to handle your end."

"My... my end?" Rick asked, looking over at his best friend.

"Your end is being here for your son. Even if he didn't need your blood to survive,there is no way I'd ever let you walk out that door. Man,I'd break your legs if I tried. You know that, right?" Shane said, sincerely, making Rick nod in response, "If something happened to him and you weren't here...If-If he slipped away while you were gone,you would never forgive yourself for that. And Neither would Lori, man."

"We will do everything we can to save your son, Rick. We are all a group that is facing the mess that world has turned into, and we need to look out for each other." Chef told Rick, putting his hand on Rick's shoulder. Rick put his hand on Chef's hand and squeezed it, giving him a thankful look.

Just then, Hershel opened the door and walked out, making everyone get up from their seats, "He's out of danger for the moment. But I need to remove those remaining fragments."

''How? You saw how he was." Rick asked.

"I know,and that was the shallowest one. I need to go deeper to get the others." Hershel informed.

"Oh..." Chris said, crossing his arms. Situation with Carl just became worse.

"Oh, man." Shane said, sounding just as worried as Chris for the kid.

''There's more." Hershel declared.

'Tell me." Rick wanted to know.

"His belly's distended,his pressure is dropping,which means there's internal bleeding." Hershel said as everyone stared up at him worriedly, "A fragment must have nicked one of the blood vessels. I have to open him up,find the bleeder and stitch it. And he can't move while I'm in there-I mean,at all. If he reacts the same as before,I'll sever an artery and he'll be dead in minutes. To even try this,I have to put him under. But if I do,he won't be able to breathe on his own. Same bad results."

''What'll it take?" Rick asked, worried for his son.

''You need a respirator." Otis cut in, "What else?

''The tube that goes with it,extra surgical supplies, drapes, sutures." Hershel explained.

''If you had all that you could save him?" Rick wanted to know.

"If I had all that,I could try." Hershel answered, giving a nod of his head.

"Where's the nearest hospital? Perharps we can find it there?" Chef asked the farmer.

"Nearest hospital went up in flames a month ago." Otis said to Chef, who sighed and shook his head, "The High School."

''That's what I was thinking. They set up a fema shelter there. They would have everything we need." Hershel explained.

"Place was overrun last time I saw it. You couldn't get near it. " Otis stated, "Maybe It's better now."

"I said,leave the rest to me." Shane said.

"Don't think about it, soldier." Chef said as Shane glanced over at him, "I'm coming with you."

Shane nodded his head, accepting Chef's help as he looked up at Hershel, "Come on. Doc,why don't you do us a list and draw us a map?"

"We'll make sure to get everything we need." Chef added, with a nod of his head.

"You won't need a map. I'll take you there." Otis said, earning everyone's attention, "Ain't but five miles."

Patricia looked over at her husband worriedly, "Otis, no."

''Honey,we don't have time for guesswork and I'm responsible. I ain't gonna sit here while this fella takes this on alone. I'll be all right." Otis assured her to which Patricia let out a tearful nod. This boy was in this condition because of him, he wanted to help as best as he could to save him.

''Are you sure about this?" Shane asked him.

''Do you even know what any of the stuff he's talking about looks like?" Otis asked Shane and Chef.

"Come to think, no. Shane answered with a smirk.

Chef thought of the answer. He was patching up the contestants during both of the season of Total Drama, but he wasn't an expert in this area, "Not really."

''I've been a volunteer EMT." Otis began, "We can talk about this till next Sunday or we could just go do it real quick."

''We'll take right quick." Shane said.

"I should thank you." Ric said to Otis.

"Wait till that boy of yours is up and around. Then we'll talk." Otis said as she along with Shane and Chef walked out the door. Rick along with Chris, Patricia and Hershel followed them behind them as they walked to Otis' truck.

As Otis gave Patricia one last hug and grabbed his rifle, Chef pulled out the Glock and handed it over to Chris, making the host say, "Is that?"

"The weapon you found in the highway?" Chef answered for him, holding out the Glock to him, "Yes. You should have it."

"I don't know how to use this." Chris pointed out.

"My answer is going to be the same as yesterday. You're gonna have to learn." Chef said, as Chris was debating with himself if he should take the Glock or not.

"Maybe you should have it while you'll be gone?" Chris asked him.

"No. I have my shotgun, and the pistol I got from the safety kid in our bus." Chef answered, "I'm going to be safe."

Although he was hesitating to take the Glock from Chef, the host of Total Drama eventually took it from him, "If you say so."

With that, Chef, Shane and Otis all squeezed into the truck. Shane looked over at Otis and saw his hunting rifle, making the owner of this rifle say, "Only one I got."

"This turned into a weird day." Shane said, shaking his head.

"It's hard to disagree." Chef stated. He'd never except this day to go the way it went.

Rick and Chris watched all three of them drove off down the road away from the farm, as Maggie walked over to them, "Where is she, your wife?"

* * *

The group continued to walk through the forest towards the highway, Lori walked next to Daryl, leading everyone as she finally asked, "How much farther?"

''Not much. Maybe a hundred yards as the crow flies." Daryl replied.

"Too bad we're not crows." Gwen stated, shaking his head.

''Oh. As the crow flies, my ass." Andrea stated.

Suddenly a walker turned around a tree and caught the pair off guard. Andrea let out a scream of horror, earning everyone's attention as she backed away from the undead. The walker lunged towards her as she tried her best to hold it off, stabbing it in the chest. She pushed him off her and rapidly backed away from him, only this time, she fell on the ground. She started crawling away from the walker, screaming every moment as she did so, until help came in a form of Alejandro as the spanish teen pushed the walker away from her and slamming his boot against it's head.

As the group gathered around Andrea, they all heard the sound of someone of a horse which was becoming more and more louder until Maggie appeared in their sight as she rode a horse, a baseball bat was in her hand just in case if something happened.

She stopped in front of the group, asking, "Lori? Lori Grimes?''

''I'm Lori." Lori said.

''Rick sent me. You've got to come now." Maggie quickly explained the situation to her.

''What?" Lori asked, confused.

"There's been an accident. Carl's been shot." Maggie replied as Lori's face quickly dropped, "He's still alive but you've got to come now. Rick needs you. Just come.''

Lori tossed her bag to the ground and ran over towards her, as Daryl pointed at Maggie, "Whoa whoa whoa. We don't know this girl. You can't get on that horse."

"How do you know you aren't lying?" Tyler added.

''Rick and Chris said you had others on the highway,that big traffic snarl?" Maggie asked.

"Yeah." DJ confirmed with a nod of his head.

"Backtrack to Fairburn road. Two miles down is our farm. You'll see the mailbox. The name is Greene.'' Maggie quickly said as she and Lori rode off back into the forest.

Everyone watched as they rode away a bit confused by a walker who sat up groaning only for Daryl to say, "Shut up." And fire off his crossbow, killing it.

Minutes later, the group made their way back to the highway, where everyone else was waiting for them to come back, as the juvie called out for Dale and Harold, "Old man, Doris, is the RV ready, yet?"

"Yeah." Dale answered with a nod of his head, as Duncan walked past them, moving towards his new motorcycle.

"Why?" Harold asked.

"We have to go to this farm. Carl's been shot, and they're treating him there." Bridgette answered.

Dale's and Harold's eyes shot open in shock at this revelation, ''Shot? What do you mean shot?''

''I don't know,Dale. I wasn't there. All I know is this chick rode out of nowhere like Zorro on a horse and took Lori." Glenn answered.

"You're telling me that some random chick just come out of the forest and you let her take one of us?" Noah asked, leaning against the RV, with his arms crossed.

"Climb down out of my asshole." Daryl said to Noah who rolled his eyes at the redneck insult.

"Rick and Chris sent her. She knew Lori's name and Carl's." Leshawna explained.

Andrea and Tyler walked past Dale and Harold, as the old man shot the blond haired woman a worried look, "I heard screams. Was that you?''

"She got attacked by a walker." Alejandro explained, "It was a close call."

''Andrea, are you all right?" Dale asked Andrea, but got no answer from her before her and Tyler slammed the door of the RV shut.

* * *

Rick and Chris came out to the porch with Hershel as they observed the land of the eldery farmer, the sheriff deputy stating in awe at how this place was untouched by the plague that completely changed the world over these past few months.

"This place is beautiful." Rick stated.

''Been in my family 160 years." Hershel said proudly.

Chris chuckled, "It's just like my family. We owned the same house for over 60 years in my home country. But the surroundings were completely different. More watery."

"Where you're from?" Hershel asked him, turning over the host.

"Newfoundland." Chris answered.

"You're from Newfoundland?" Rick asked.

"Born and raised." Chris answered, lowering his head as he remembered how one of the competitions in the third season was going to take place in him home country, "I moved out a long time ago and ended up where I was until this entire thing happened." He said as he looked around his surroundings, "This place is really untouched compared to everything we saw so far."

Rick nodded his head in agreement, as he looked over at Rick, "You're lucky."

''We weren't completely unscathed. We lost friends,neighbors. The epidemic took my wife, my stepson." Hershel replied.

''I'm sorry." Rick said sincerely.

''My daughters were spared. I'm grateful to god for that. These people here,all we've got left is each hoping we can ride it out in peace till there's a cure" Hershel said, as Chris and Rick looked away from him, remembering what happened when they visited CDC.

The sheriff deputy and the host of Total Drama shared a quick look with each other, until Chris said to Hershel, "We were at the CDC. It's gone now. There is no cure. We barely made it out of there alive.''

Hershel let out a small laugh and smiled, "I don't believe it. When aids came along,everyone panicked. One boy in town came down with it and some parents pulled their children from school so they didn't have to sit in the same room."

''This is a whole other thing." Rick told him, with Chris nodding his head in agreement.

"That's what we always say-" _This one's different_ "." Hershel said, still with a smile.

''Well,this one is." Rick and Chris were sticking with his point.

Hershel shook his head, ''Mankind's been fighting plagues from the start. We get our behinds kicked for a while then we bounce back. It's nature correcting herself,restoring some balance."

''I wish I could believe that." Rick stated.

Chris sighed, "Same here."

It was when they heard a horse coming and looked up. Maggie and Lori quickly rode over to the porch and Rick ran off to get Lori. She collapsed into his arms, hugging him while Hershel and Chris watched sadly. Rick led her inside the farm house and she hugged her soon and wept, "Mama's here. You're gonna be okay. You're gonna be okay. We're gonna make you okay." She checked his pulse, before looking up att her husband, "Slow. How many transfusions?"

''Two. Only two." Rick answered.

"He wanted to do the same for you when you were in the hospital. I had to talk him out of it." Lori told him.

Rick nodded and with Lori's help walked out of the room into the dining room, where Chris, and Hershel were waiting for them, "Okay,so I understand,when Shane and Chef get back with this other man..."

''Otis." Hershel said.

"Otis. The idiot who shot my son." Lori said, bitterly.

"Ma'am,It was an accident." Hershel told her.

"I'll take that under advisement. For now he's the idiot who shot our son." Lori replied.

"Lori, they're doing everything they can to make it right." Rick told his wife.

"Okay." Lori said, as she turned her look at Hershel,"As soon as they get back you can perform this surgery?"

''I'll certainly do my best." Hershel said with a nod.

''Okay. You've done this procedure before?" Lori asked.

"Well, yes, in a sense." Hershel answered.

"In a sense?" Lori asked him another question.

"Lori, we don't have the luxury of shopping for a surgeon." Chris pointed out.

''No,I understand that." Lori said, "But I mean you're a doctor,right?"

Hershel nodded his head, "Yes, ma'am. Of course. A vet."

''A veteran? A combat medic?'' Lori wanted to know, as she was seeming to light up slightly.

"A veterinarian." Hershel corrected.

Lori paused for a moment, ''And you've done this surgery before on what? Cows? Pigs?"

* * *

Shane, Chef and Otis were sneaking up a hill towards the building which was the building where they would find everything they needed to save Carl.

"Let's take a look." Chef said as the group of three men looked over the car and saw a bunch of walkers.

"We can get pass them." Shane stated.

"We just need to be careful." Chef added.

''You see that big mobile medical trailer across the way?" Otis asked them.

Chef and Shane took a quick look at the trailer Otis was gesturing to as the co-host of Total Drama asked him, "That's where we got to get to?"

Otis nodded his head in confirmation, "Yeah."

''Let's get going then." Shane said.

* * *

The group was preparing themselves to leave highway and head out towards the farm, but Carol's eyes were not leaving the forest, she just wanted to get her daughter back, and didn't want to leave the highway just in case if his daughter would come back to the highway.

"I won't do it. We can't just leave." She said.

"Carol, the group is split. We're scattered and weak." Dale told her.

"What if she comes back and we're not here?" Carol pointed out, "It could happen."

''If Sophia found her way back and we were gone." Bridgette shook her head at the scenario that flew through her mind.

"That would be awful." DJ stated.

"Okay. We got to plan for this. " Daryl spoke up, "I say tomorrow morning is soon enough to pull up stakes. Give us a chance to rig a big sign,leave her some supplies. I'll hold here tonight,stay with the RV."

''If the RV is staying,I am too." Dale added.

"I think I'll stay too." Harold said.

"I'm in." Andrea said.

"So am I." Tyler added.

''Well,if you're all staying then I'm..." Glenn was cut off by Dale.

"Not you,Glenn. You're going. Take Carol's Cherokee." Dale interrupted him, as he turned to Alejandro, "You will join him.

''Me? Why is it always me?" Glenn asked Dale as Alejandro nodded his head.

''You have to find this farm, reconnect with our people and see what's going on. But most important,you have to get T-Dog there." Dale explained as everyone glanced over at T-Dog who sat away from the ground, his eyes on the ground.

"We've checked his cut while you were gone. He has a very serious blood infection. Get him to that farm. See if they have any antibiotics. Because if not,he will die." Noah added.

Daryl scoffed and walked over to his bike and pulled out a bag of meth and pill bottles, ''Why'd you wait till now to say anything? Got my brother's stash." He said as he dug into his stash, finding two bottles and tossing them to Dale and Glenn, while everyone stared at him surpised, "Crystal,X. Don't need that. Got some kick ass painkillers. Oxycycline. Not the generic stuff neither. It's first class. Merle got the clap on occasion."

Dale smiled as he looked at the pill bottle as Gwen stated, "That's a rather welcoming revelation."

Everyone agreed with her.

* * *

Hershel was checking Carl's blood pressure, while Lori, Rick and Chris watched, "Pressure's dropping again. We can't wait much longer.''

''Take some more. Whatever he needs. Then I'm gonna go." Rick said to him.

"Go? Go where?'' Lori asked him.

''He said five miles. They should be long back by now. Something's gone wrong.'' Rick replied.

"Are you insane? You're not going after them." Lori told him. Rick was not in the condition to go.

"You're not in the condition for this." Chris added.

"Rick, listen to your them." Hershel told the sheriff deputy, ''You've given too much blood. You're barely on your feet. You wouldn't make it across the yard.''

"If something happened, I have to go." Rick insisted.

"They're going to come back, Rick." Chris assured him, knowing that Shane and Chef are going to come back. He knew Chef better than anyone else in the group did, and he knew that co-host of Total Drama was going to make sure that all three men that went to get everything they needed to save Carl will return safely from their mission.

"Listen to him, Rick." Lori agreed with her the host of Total Drama, "Carl needs you here. And I can't do this by myself. Not this one. I can't. I can't."

* * *

The group of three men managed to find a way how to the pass the walkers and got to the medical tent where Otis told them they'd find everything they came here for in the first place. and were currently filling their bags with everything they needed to save Carl.

The respirators appeared in Shane's sight as he called over to Otis to make sure it was what they've been looking for, "Is this it?''

''Yeah, three." Otis confirmed it and upon hearing it Shane immediately put the respirators in his bag while Chef filled his bag with the tubes that went with them.

''Endotracheal intubator, baby, for my new respirator." Otis said, seeing how Chef put the tubed in his bag.

"Attaboy." Shane stated.

"Let's go, soldiers. We don't have much time." Chef said, to which Shane and Otis nodded their heads in agreement.

The three of them quickly hurried over to the door and opened them to see a walker looking directly at them. It snarled, causing other walkers to see look over at them.

"Goddamn it!" Shane cursed at the bag situation they found themselves in as the group of three men started running deeper into the school as the herd of the undead chased them.

"Stay close!" Chef shouted as they ran across the school's lots. Unfortunely for them, at each turn they were getting blocked off by more and more walkers. One of them grabbed Shane's arm, but fortunely Chef was there in time to save and knocked the walker into the ground with the back of his shotgun. They quickly run up to the entrance to the school as Shane frantically tried to open the door as the circle of walkers formed around them.

Not seeing any other option, Shane shot the glass doors open and they quickly made their way into the school. Otis and Chef closed the security gate before the walkers could get in and locked it, to prevent them from entering the school.

The only thing they could do now was to watch in horror and fear as the walkers slammed themselves against the door, as the lock was slowly getting looser...

* * *

**Welp, here we are with the farm.**

**RIP Scott Wilson. We won't forget your amazing performance as Hershel Greene.**


	9. Save the Last One

**I apologize for the delay! D** **on't worry, we're back with the updates, but they'll be less f** **requent than one chapter a week.**

* * *

Tyler sighed as he stared into the darkened sky of the night through the windows of Dale's RV, the metal baseball bat he recently found in the cars on this road resting on his knees. Andrea sat in front of him, putting more bullets in the clip to the pistol, trading a word or two with the red clothed teenager from time to time. Daryl laid on the floor of the RV next to the, trying to get some sleep, and Harold and Dale were currently outside, keeping watch just in case if another herd of walkers happened to be walking their way, or hopefully Sophia came walking from the forest.

Daryl shifted in his sleeping spot after hearing Carol crying in the other side of the RV. He grunted and sat straight up, looking at Carol, before standing up. Tyler and Andrea watched him walk over to them before placing his crossbow on his back.

The redneck looked at them and said, "I need my clip now." Andrea stared at him for a few seconds, before handing the clip to him, "I'm gonna walk the road, look for the girl."

He glanced behind at Carol who turned to look at him, wiping tears from her cheeks and send her a quick nod as Tyler stood up from his seat, "I'll go with you."

Daryl just offered him a quick nod in response as he opened the doors to the RV and walked out of the vehicle followed by Tyler. The two of them passed by Harold who was sitting on the ground next to the entrance to the RV, the flashlight Daryl was carrying engulfing the area ahead of them.

Andrea was right behind them, coming out of the RV as well, declaring, "Make it three."

Daryl looked up at Dale and said, "I'm going for a walk. Shine some light in the forest. If she's out there,give her something to look at."

Hearing this, Harold stood up from his position and offered, "Would you mind if I go too?"

"You think that's a good idea right now?" Dale asked all four of them, before anyone could reply to Harold's words.

"Dale." Andrea send the eldery man a look before walking forward.

Daryl and Tyler followed her as Harold looked up at Dale with assuring look, "We'll be back as fast as we can." before following the blond haired woman as well.

* * *

Chef exhaled deeply and shook his head, walking on top of the bleachers inside a gym, hearing how at least a dozen of arms slammed against them, trying to reach out to him or Shane or Otis.

He looked over at Shane who was trying to find a way out of this situation, "Did you find anything?"

Shane nodded his head and pointed his flashlight at some smaller windows, "Those windows, what's on the other side?"

"About a 20-foot drop with nothing to catch you, maybe some bushes,then the athletic field." Otis replied.

"We just need enough time. We got to get up there. We got to get 'em open and get out." Shane said.

Chef nodded his head to that, "We don't seem to have more options right now."

"Maybe you two, but not me." Otis stated.

Shane turned to look at him, "What are talking about?"

"Come on,man,look at me. You really think I can squeeze through one of them tiny windows?" Otis asked, looking down at his body, "They'd be all over us. Look,we lay down some fire to get a head start. You stay here. I hop down and draw them away. That gives you the chance to get up the bleachers and out a window."

"And where do you go?" Chef asked him.

"Locker room down those steps." Otis replied, shining his flashlight to show them the locker room.

"Looks like a good way to get trapped if you ask me." Chef stated, not liking this.

"It's got windows too, and more my size. I get out through one, I double back, we meet up out on the field." Otis explained, handing Shane his backpack.

"You're a crazy son of a bitch,ain't you?" Shane said, taking the bag from the overweighted man.

"Just trying to do right for that boy." Otis said in response.

"You take three shots. And you go." Shane said to which Otis nodded his head in understanding. "After that I and Chef will fire. We'll lay down a cover for your. We'll get you a lead."

Otis nodded his head to that, "All right."

"Let's get out of here, soldiers." Chef said, readying his shotgun. Otis and Shane couldn't help but agree with him.

Otis aimed his rifle at the one the walkers and pulled the trigger, the bullet hitting the undead straight in the head, taking it out. He fired two more times, taking out two more walkers before jumping off the bleachers. He grunted in pain as he hit the ground, feeling how a walker that was trapped in some equiment grabbed his leg, intending to bury it's teeth into it. He tried to fight it off, but fortunely for him Shane came in his rescue and killed the walker with a single shot in it's head.

Otis quickly got himself back on his feet and started making his way towards the locker room as Shane and Chef made sure to take out the walkers that were the closest ones to him to buy him some time. When Otis opened the doors to the locker room and walked into it, making sure to quickly close it behind him, Chef and Shane already jumped off the bleachers, and were about to make their way towards the windows, but the noise they made upon contacting with the floor.

It brought the attention of the pack back to them. Shane quickly aimed his shotgun at them but Chef just stared at them in silence, hearing the growls of the undead directed their way.

He knew what he had to do. He took his bag off and handed it to Shane, "Go!"

Shane send him a confused look, "What?"

In response to his queston, Chef shoved him towards the windows, "Don't worry about me! Worry about the boy! I'll find other way out!"

Shane only watched how Chef ran towards the exit from the gym, killing two walkers on his way there with his shotgun to bring their attention towards him. It did it's work. All of the walkers in the pack shifted their attention towards the co-host of Total Drama headed towards the exit from the gym, with all of the following him. Shane watched him leave through the exit from the gym, with the walkers on his tail before running up the stairs towards the windows. He smashed one of them into pieces with the back of his shotgun.

He tossed his, Otis' and Chef's bag, his shotgun through the hole he made just made in the window before readying himself to jump down as well. When he was about to jump down, a walker grabbed his shirt, beginning to pull him towards it's mouth. Shane punched it straight in it's face before pulling out his pistol, and shot it in the head, before falling down, landing on his right ankle, grunting in pain upon the impact.

He slowly got himself back on his feet, making sure to pick up each back, hearing Chef firing his shotgun in the building.

It stopped a few seconds later, and the worst scenario instantly popped into his mind...

* * *

Everyone from the highway started arriving at Hershel's farm, Duncan on his new motorcycle driving in front of the group. He parked it in front of the house which he assumed to belong to the girl they came across in the forest. He hopped off his motorcycle and watched how everyone slowly got out the vehicles.

They walked towards the front of the house, with Glenn asking them, "So do we ring the bell? I mean it looks like people live here."

"I doubt that they'll mind. The you came across girl from the forest must've already tell them that we're coming." Heather stated.

The front of the large group took a step forward into the porch when they heard a voice call out to them, "Did you close the gate up the road when you drove in?"

They turned to the source of the voice and saw Maggie sitting in a chair on the porch. Leshawna nodded her head at her, "Don't worry, sugar. We made sure to close it."

"It's nice to meet you." Cody spoke up next, standing in the back of the group, "Our friends told us about you."

Everyone introduced themselves to Maggie until T-Dog said, "Look,we came to help. There anything we can do?" Maggie stood up from her seat and walked over to them, her eyes catching the sight of his bandage and already assumed the worst, but he quickly assured her that it was not was she was thinking it was, "It's not a bite. I cut myself pretty bad though."

"We'll have it looked at. I'll tell them you're here." Maggie answered.

"We have some painkillers and antibiotics. I already gave him some. If Carl needs any." Glenn said, handing her some of the bottles that Daryl gave them.

"Come on inside." Maggie said, leading the group inside.

They made their way to Carl's room, earning Rick's, Lori's, Chris', Hershel's and Patricia's attention, They just stared at each other in an awkward silence which was broken by Glenn who offered them a quick, "Hey."

"Hey." Rick said in response, not taking his eyes off his son.

"Just to let you know, we're here." Bridgette assured them.

Courtney nodded her head, "All of us."

"If you'll need us to do anything we're here." DJ added.

Lori just like her husband kept staring at her son, not looking at the rest of her group that just arrived, "Thank you."

Maggie lead them all out of the room and Chris walked out of the room as well, knowing that they'll have some questions.

His suspicions became true when Noah asked, "How in the hell he got shot in the middle of the forest?"

Chris sighed, "It was an accident. There was a deer ahead of us and the bullet flew right through it. We got here as fast as we could."

"The guy who shot the deer couldn't see you?" Owen asked with a raised brow.

"No, and we haven't seen him either." Chris answered.

"Who shot him?" Gwen was the next one to ask.

"Otis. He's not here currently." Chris replied.

"Where is he?" T-Dog asked.

"And where's our favourite Chef and Shane?" Duncan added, leaning against the wall, "Haven't seen them since we got here."

"They went to get some equipment they need to save Carl. They should be back a while ago." Chris explained. He sighed and asked, "What about Sophia? Did you found her?"

"No. We tried to find her but she was nowhere to be found." Bridgette said with a sad sigh, feeling sorry for Carol, not imagining what she was going through.

"Dale, Harold, Tyler, Andrea, Daryl and Carol stayed on the highway just in case if she returned." Sierra explained.

"I should have stayed too." Duncan said, "I and Daryl could have gone looking for her, especially after the time we wasted in this church."

Everyone looked at the juvie. They all wanted to find to Sophia, but Duncan along with Daryl seemed to be the ones who were willing to spend most of their time to look for her and it confused a lot of them, because they simply weren't excepting it from them.

"Duncan." Courtney said to him, placing a hand on his shoulder, but he simply put grabbed it and put it away, "We all want to find Sophia as much as you do, Duncan, but you can't spend your entire time looking for her."

"It's the night and you need to rest." DJ added, "All of us need to rest, and looking for her in the dark can be dangerous, with the walkers around and not really having any source of light."

"That's right, sugar." Leshawna nodded her head in agreement, knowing that there was most likely a reason for it, just like the time when he found DJ another bunny after the previous one ran away, "And as I recall you agreed with Daryl when he said that looking for her in the dark was foolish."

Duncan remained silent for a few seconds. He knew what Carol was going through from personal experience, but he didn't want anyone to know about that, "I just want to find her."

Everyone turned to look at Carl's room when they saw Lori leaving the room in tears with Rick going after his wife.

"What is going on?" Gwen asked him.

Rick stopped for a second and explained it to them, "They can't wait longer. If they're not going to return soon then they will have to try to operate on your Carl without the respirator."

* * *

Daryl, Andrea, Tyler and Harold continued to look for Sophia. Their flashlights were shining brightly and engulfing the area in front of them in light. They still couldn't see much in the dark, but it was still better than nothing.

"You really think we're gonna find Sophia?" Andrea asked.

"You got that look on your face same as everybody else. What the hell's wrong with you people? We just started looking." Daryl scoffed.

"Well, do you?" Andrea asked him.

"It ain't the mountains of tibet. It's Georgia. She could be holed up in a farmhouse somewhere. People get lost and they survive. It happens all the time." Daryl stated.

"She's only 12." Andrea pointed out.

"Hell,I was younger than her and I got lost." Daryl said as everyone looked at him, "Nine days in the woods eating berries,wiping my ass with poison oak." Daryl explained.

"They found you? Or did you found a way out by yourself?" Harold asked, looking interested in Daryl's story.

"My old man was off on a bender with some waitress. Merle was doing another stint in juvie. Didn't even know I was gone. I made my way back though. Went straight into the kitchen and made myself a sandwich. No worse for wear. Except my ass itched something awful." Daryl answered to which Andrea, Tyler and Harold all laughed.

When they noticed the look that Daryl send them, Andrea quickly said in their defense, "We're 'sorry. We're sorry, that is a terrible story."

Daryl continued to stare at them, but they couldn't help themselves and proceeded to laugh. He eventually laughed as well.

"This is the best laugh I had since..." Tyler stopped himself in the middle of the sentence when he realized what he was going to say. His smile turned into a frown.

"Uh, Tyler?" Harold asked him, in worry, "Were you saying something?"

Tyler shook his head, not even looking at the person who just asked him a question, "No. It's nothing."

"As I was saying, only difference is Sophia's got people looking for her. I call that an advantage." Daryl said.

"I hope you're right." Tyler told him as Andrea and Harold just nodded.

* * *

Shane was carefully making his way around the school, trying to find Chef or Otis but both of them were nowhere to be found. He spotted a walker heading his way and his response to that was quick. He aimed his shotgun and fired a single shell, getting rid of it. He walked further and saw that a lot of walkers were around him but most of them were behind a fence, so he didn't had to worry about them, at least for now.

He turned to the left and saw three walkers coming his way. Her turned away from them and started making his way to the fence, and his now wounded ankle from the fall wasn't making it easier. He leaned against the fence, feeling how the walkers on the other side were reaching out for him but his attention was still focused on the three walkers ahead of him.

He loaded two last shells he had left into his shotgun and aimed it at them. He was taken off by the guard for a second when a gunshot rang out and one of the walkers collapsed on the ground, lifeless. He looked over behind them and saw Otis with his rifle in ready.

Shane shot down the other two walkers and limped over to him. Otis ran over to him and took one the bags Shane handed him, "Man,I thought I'd lost you."

"Where's your friend?" Otis asked him.

"I don't know. We got separated in the gym when he lead some walkers away so I could get away. I heard him shot down some of them but then everything went quiet." Shane explained, "That was my shotgun shell."

"Mine too." Otis said.

They moved towards the lower athletic fields, the fences around them keeping them on school ground, "Come on,man. We need a way out."

"Just let me catch my breath." Otis said, leaning against the fence with him.

"Come on." Shane said, irritated that they stopped.

Just second after that, the walkers slammed against the fence, trying to get them, starling the two men for a few seconds. Shane placed his hand on Otis' shoulder and started moving again, trying to find a way to their truck, and hopefully come across Chef on their way.

* * *

Rick and Lori sat outside of Carl's room when they heard let out a small cough. They immediately rose back to their feets and ran into his room. Lori fell on her knees and took his hand into hers as he looked around confused.

"Where are we?" He asked.

"Hey, little man." Rick said, softly, gesturing towards Hershel, "That's Hershel. We're in his house. You had an accident. All right?"

"It hurts,a lot." Carl said, breathing heavily.

"Oh baby,I know. I know." Lori said.

"You should have seen it." Carl said.

"What?" Lori asked.

"The deer. It was so pretty,Gray. It was so close. I've never been..." Carl stopped, his expression turning into a completely blank one out of the sudden.

"Carl?" Rick called out to his son.

"What's happening?" Lori asked.

Just then Carl began to shake violently, painful grunts leaving his mouth every second as he did so. Lori grabbed her son, but Hershel quickly came over to her and moved her hand away from him, "It's a seizure. If you hold him down,you could hurt him."

"You can't stop it?" Lori asked.

"He has to just go through it." Hershel said as Lori stood up and hugged her husband, clinging into him with a fearful expression forming on both of their faces, "His brain isn't getting enough blood. His pressure is bottoming. He needs another transfusion."

* * *

Harold had no idea for how long they were walking in the forest. He moved his flashlight around him, trying to spot any trail that could take them to Sophia but there wasn't none in his sight. He heard some leaves russtling.

He pointed the light towards the place from which the sound came from and said, "Guys."

"We heard it too." Daryl said, raising his crossbow.

"Let's go." Tyler said, holding his baseball bat in ready.

They moved towards the place rom which the sound came from and came across a small campsite. They instantly spotted a body hanging from the tree and that there was a note pinned to a tree with a knife.

" _Got bit. Fever hit. World gone to shit. Might as well quit._ " Daryl read what was written on a note. He shook his head, "Dumbass didn't know enough to shoot himself in the head. Turned himself into a big swinging piece of bait. And a mess."

Harold walked over to the note and pulled the knife that was holding the note off the tree, making the note collaps on the ground as Andrea gagged, looking like she was going to threw up, "You all right, Andrea?"

"Trying not to puke." Andrea answered.

"Go ahead if you gotta." Daryl told her, not taking his eyes off the hanging walker.

"No,I'm fine. Let's just talk about something else for a minute." Andrea said, looking up at Tyler, "Hey, Tyler. Why did you choose sport out of all things?"

"You can thank my fingers for that." Tyler answered, as he stood next to Daryl, looking up at the walker just like the redneck.

"What?" Andrea said, confused by his words.

"That's one thing these walkers and us have in common. I guess it's the closest he's been to food since he turned. Look at him hanging up there like a big pinata." Daryl said as he moved his flashlight closer to take a look at his legs, bones were all that was left of them, "The other geeks came and ate all the flesh off his legs."

It was enough for Andrea. She coughed and threw up. She wiped her lips and said, "I thought we were changing the subject."

"Call that payback for laughing about my itchy ass." Daryl said.

Andrea sighed, "There wasn't a lot that came up."

"Huh." Daryl said in response as he turned to leave, "Let's head back."

Andrea pointed at the walker with her flashlight, "Aren't you gonna..."

"No. He ain't hurting nobody. Ain't gonna waste an arrow either. He made his choice. Opted out. Let him hang." Daryl shook his head, approaching Andrea, "You want to live now or not? It's just a question."

"Wait." Harold said, picking up a portable fridge that was laying under the walker, "I think I know how to take care of him without having to fire Daryl's crossbow."

"What if he grabs you?" Daryl asked him.

Harold placed the fridge behind the walker, "He won't if I'll be behind him."

The nerdy teenager got himself on the fridge and reached his new knife towards the walker's head. He placed the knife in it's head, as the walker let out one last grunt. He then reached the knife towards the noose and cut the walker loose, it's body now lifeless landing on the ground before Daryl, Andrea and Tyler.

He hopped off the portable fridge as Tyler said to him, "Good job, Harold. The less of those things around, the better."

"Let's go." Daryl said, turning to leave along with Andrea and Harold. Tyler stayed behind for a few moments, glaring down at the corpse of a walker. He gritted his teeth, as he raised his baseball bat in the air and slammed it against it's head a few times, smashing it into pieces until it wasn't recognizable.

Harold stopped and turned to look him, confused, "Tyler, what are you doing?"

"Just wanted to make sure." Tyler said, walking past him.

Harold only sent him a worried a glance before following the group.

* * *

T-Dog winced in pain as Patricia was restitching his pain. Maggie held his hand just in case if he was going to move it in a bad moment, "You got here right in time. This couldn't go untreated much longer. "Merle Dixon". Is that your friend with the antibiotics?"

"We wouldn't call him our friend." Alejandro said, leaning against the wall behind them, "And he's no longer with us and to be honest no one in our group misses him except for his brother."

"What happened to him?" Patricia asked.

"We got... separated." Bridgette said, not wanting to tell them that they left Merle behind handcuffed to a pipe in a city filled with walkers.

"We sent a group to find him, but he was nowhere to be found." DJ said, sitting on the couch in the other part of room, "T-Dog was one of them."

"He is your friend today. This doxycycline might have just saved your life." Patricia said, "You know what Merle was taking it for?"

"It was some kind of venereal disease if what his brother said to us was true." Noah said, taking his eyes off his book for a second.

"I'd say Merle Dixon's venereal disease was the best thing to ever happen to you." Patricia said as T-Dog's face twisted in pain.

Maggie was unable to watch it for any minute longer. She took her hand off T-Dog's and said, "Can someone take over?"

Izzy walked over to them and placed her hand on T-Dog's with a shrug of her shoulders, "Things like this don't really touch me."

Maggie exited the room and walked towards the porch. She spotted Glenn sitting down, praying, "Are you praying?"

Glenn looked up at her, "Why do you sneak up on people so much?"

"You're easy to sneak up on." Maggie said as she sat on the guard rail.

"I was praying, or I was trying to." Glenn explained.

"You religious? You pray a lot?" Maggie asked him.

"Actually this was my first try." Glenn said, a small smile forming on his lips.

"Ever?" Maggie was pretty shocked, "Wow. Sorry. I didn't mean to wreck your first time."

"God probably got the gist." Glenn said, looking up at the sky.

"Praying for what?" Maggie wanted to know.

"My friends. Looks like they could all use a little help right now." Glenn answered.

* * *

Shane and Otis collapsed by the parking lot. They were close to their truck, but with his leg, Shane could easily tell that they weren't going to make it, "Look,we ain't gonna make it, okay? You're gonna take these bags and you're gonna go."

"I ain't leaving you behind." Otis shook his head.

Shane grunted and slammed his hand against the ground, "Okay. How many rounds you got left?"

"Four." Otis replied, taking a quick look back at the horde, "You?"

"Five and one in the pipe." Shane said as he got himself back on his feet and Otis was quick to follow him. The two slowly continued to make their way to their truck while firing off their last rounds at the walkers.

* * *

Lori and Rick were kneeling down next to the bed and looking at Hershel who was holding Carl's hand, waiting for the eldery man to say anything.

He finally said something, and it was exactly what they were worried it would be, "He's still losing blood faster than we can replace it. And with the swelling in his abdomen we can't wait any longer or he's just going to slip away. Now I need to know right now if you want me to do this,because I think your boy is out of time."

Rick and Lori stood up and stared at each other, You have to make a choice."

"A choice?" Lori said, shaking her head.

"A choice. You have to tell me what it is." Rick said, looking at her, "You have to tell me what it is."

Lori stared at her husband tearfully, placing her hand on his cheek, "We do it."

They hugged each other as Patricia came into the room with a cart of medical supplies.

"Okay,get the corner of that bed. Let's get the sheets down everybody. Rick get the IV bag on sheet." Hershel commanded as everyone gathered around Carl., "Okay, on three. One, two, three." They lifted Carl up and moved over to the cart before placing him on it. Patricia picked up a lamp and put it over the cart, turning both of the lights on as Hershel picked up a scalpel, "Rick, Lori, you may want to step out."

Chris suddenly came rushing into the room, "Chef, Shane and Otis are back!"

Everyone rushed outside to see that only Shane returned. He got himself out the truck, carrying all of three bags over his shoulders, asking, "Carl?"

"There's still a chance." Rick answered as Hershel, and Glenn took the bags from him.

The eldery farmer looked around, seeing that Otis didn't came back with him, "Otis?"

Shane shook his head, "No."

"We say nothing to Patricia. Not till after. I need her." Hershel said, before running back into the house with Glenn. Maggie just stood outside of the house, on the verge of tears.

Rick approached Shane and pulled his best friend into a hug. When he pulled back, Shane looked at him sadly, "They kept blocking us at every turn. We had nothing left. We were down to 10 rounds. Then Otis said-he said he'd cover me and that I should keep going. So that's what I did. I just...I kept going. But I-I looked back and he-I tried..."

"What about Chef? What happened to him?" Owen asked, he and everyone else related to Total Drama looked quite shocked that Chef didn't came back.

Shane sighed, "We were trapped in a building. We were running low on ammo and there was a group of walkers headed our way. He handed his bag to me and told me not to worry about him. He made sure the walkers would follow him and after I got out of the building, I heard him shooting some of them down, but then everything went quiet. I and Otis tried to find him, while we were making our way back to the truck, he may have managed to leave the building, but he was nowhere to be found. We didn't hear a single shot, we didn't saw bodies of the walkers he could have killed... I'm sorry guys..."

Duncan let out a rather sad chuckle. He and Chef had rocky past with each other, but still hearing about his death was hard. It was hard for everyone. After all, it was Chef who made sure to keep everyone together on the first day of this, when they crashed in the forest, "And I thought that the bastard will outlive us all..."

"Shane." Rick said to his best friend who looked at him, "Otis wanted to make it right, and Chef just wanted to help you save my son. It's not your fault."

Shane just hung his head low as Rick began to lead him into the house, followed by everyone else.

Chris just stood in front of Otis' truck. He pulled out the Glock that he found on the highway and stared at it, remembering that Chef was going to teach him how to use it. He hung his head low, thinking that he should have treated Chef better during Total Drama Action, which almost led him leaving the show for good.

He felt someone hand on his shoulder. He turned back and saw Leshawna, Bridgette, Gwen, DJ, and Cody all sending him comforting looks, despise the things Chris did to them on the set, he was still a person that just found out that his close friend died.

Izzy sat down on the ground of the porch, leaning against the wall, her mind still trying to process the fact that Chef died. He mind immediately went to all the times when they rivalried with each other, a sad smile forming on her lips when she remembered one time when she made him think that he killed her, during the challenge that was about movies about aliens.

She then heard that someone sat down next to her. She turned to the person and saw Owen who was sending her a comforting smile. Her boyfriend placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and she put her head on it,. Owen stared into the night sky, sadly, the overweighted teenager being the only one in the entire show that enjoyed Chef's cooking.

* * *

Dale and Carol watched over the highway from the top of the RV when they spotted four familiar figures coming out of the forest. Carol could feel how tears started to appear in her eyelids when she saw that they didn't found her daughter. She got herself off the roof and entered the RV and Dale hopped off the roof and approached Daryl, Harold, Tyler and Andrea.

He saw Harold and Tyler walk away from the group, hearing the nerdy teenager ask the jock that he wants to talk with him about something in private. He looked at Daryl who just shook his head before entering the RV. Andrea was about to enter the vehicle too but Dale stopped her, "Andrea. Wait."

"What do you want, Dale?" She asked him.

"To give you this." Dale replied, pulling out Andrea's pistol, and holding it out to her, "I care about you so I made a choice for you-choices. I know why I did it,but this is not my gun. And the choices that I made for you were not mine to make." Andrea stared for him for a few seconds, before taking her pistol form him, "But I can still ask,and this is not to make you guilty or put me ahead of you,but I can still ask,please...don't make me regret this."

"I'll take watch." Andrea said, walking past him.

Dale turned around to look at her, "So do you forgive me for-do you forgive me?"

Andrea stopped for a second, "I'm trying."

"What did you wanted to talk about?" Tyler asked him.

Harold sighed, knowing that it was most likely not going to end well, 'Tyler. We're worried about you, all of us. You weren't yourself since Lindsay died."

Tyler rolled his eyes and shook his head, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Tyler. You keep telling us that you're okay, but we know that it's far from that, especially after..." Harold was interrupted.

Tyler cut him off, "If you're going to bring Jenner, then just stop. I had some bad thoughts, but Dale made me get rid of them."

"This isn't what I was going to bring up, Tyler. You're isolating yourself from us. You're only really talking to Andrea at this point." Harold was interrupted again.

"She's my friend." Tyler cut him off again.

"Chef, Duncan and Alejandro told us how you made sure that Lindsay wasn't going to turn. You practically smashed her head into pieces, and you do the same thing to every walker you came across. You even started doing it to the ones that are already there, like back there in the forest. I know that Lindsay's death was hard for you, you were her boyfriend after all, but I just want you to..."

Tyler cut him off for the third time, not wanting to listen to more of this, "How many times do I have to tell it to you guys? I'm perfectly okay! There's nothing wrong with me! You know about what you should be worried about? Carl and Sophia! Carl got shot and we have no idea what is going on with him right now, and Sophia is still missing and we still aren't even close to finding her! And how I deal with those things, to make sure that they don't kill more of us is my business!"

He walked past the nerdy teenager and started to leave. Harold just watched him leave, and continued, "Tyler, I just want you to remember. That if there's something wrong, we're here for you."

Tyler turned back and send him a quick look before stepping towards the RV.

Harold just sighed. This talk went exactly just like he thought. He slowly followed Tyler and made his over to the RV.

* * *

Over an hour has passed since Shane arrived with everything they needed to save Carl. The eldery farmer walked onto the porch where everyone waiting for him to inform them about Carl's condition.

Everyone shifted their attention towards him and all he could do was smile at them, smile, because he managed to save this boy, "He seems to have stabilized."

Rick exhaled, feeling how relief overcame his body as Lori smiled. T-Dog, Chris, and Total Drama contestants could feel how relief overcame their bodies as well, even though most of them was trying to process that Chef Hatchet died. At least he helped to save Carl before his death.

Rick embraced Hershel tightly, as Lori said, smilling in disbelief, "I have no words."

When Rick pulled away, Hershel said, hanging his head low, "I don't either. Wish I did. How do I tell Patricia about Otis?"

Rick looked at his wife,"You go to Carl. I'll go with Hershel."

Everyone entered the house. Hershel and Rick walked over to Patricia and informed her about her husband's death. She broke into tears and the two men had to hold her to stop her from falling down on the floor.

Shane was the last one to enter the house, Patricia's cries being the first thing he heard. He followed Lori's into Carl's room and her on her knees, crying tears that her son was saved. She kissed his hand and ruffled his hair, looking up at her husbands best friend.

"Stay." She told him, tears spilling down her cheeks.

Shane just send her a nod before stepping out of the room. He walked across the house for a few seconds before coming across Maggie, who handed him some clothes, "The bathroom's upstairs. I brought you some clothes."

"Thank you." He thanked her.

"They won't fit well. They were Otis's." She said sadly, before walking away.

Shane walked up the stairs into the bathroom where he began to undress. After taking a bath, he looked into his reflection in the mirror, looking for any scratches on his body. He noticed something else. He noticed that a peck of his hair was missing. He looked down and was instantly taken back to high-school.

_"C'mon!" Shane shouted, before firing off his pistol, getting rid of one of the walkers._

_Otis was right next to him. He turned back to look at the walkers that were getting closer to them. He fired his revolver, taking out one of them. They fired a few more times at them, and Shane knew that he had only one bullet left in his clip._

_"Down to my last." Otis declared._

_"Me too." Shane nodded his head as he stopped. He looked at Otis who stopped as well, "I'm sorry."_

_"What?" Otis asked, confused. He quickly got his answer when Shane aimed his pistol at his leg and fired. Otis screamed in pain as the bullet penetrated his leg and collapsed on the ground. Shane reached out to his backpack and attempted to take it off, but Otis was holding it tightly. Shane kicked him into his wounded leg, making Otis scream in pain with each kick he took._

_Shane managed to took the backpack off his back and was about to leave, but Otis grabbed into his hair. Shane punched him two times, but Otis was not thinking about letting him go. In the final attempt, he tried to shot Shane, who hit the revolver away and the bullet went flying into the sky. He took it from his grasp._

_"Let go off me!" Shane shouted to him as he punched Otis two times with the revolver, the overweighted man finally letting go, but taking a small piece of Shane's hair with him._

_He started to walk away from Otis as the walkers finally reached them. The undead quickly forgot about Shane and focused their attention on Otis. They started to bit into the parts of his body, practically tearing him apart as Otis screamed in agony._

_The last thing Shane heard before leaving were Otis' agonizing screams..._

He was aware that him missing a piece of his hair would bring up some questions, which was something he pretty much wanted to avoid. He began to search through the drawers until he found a buzzer. He quickly shaved his head to hide what he had done.

When he finished he stared at his reflection, now being a changed a man, a man that changed for the worse...


	10. Cherokee Rose

The rest of the night was quite uneventful considering what happened in the last few days to Sophia, Carl, and Chef. Lori and Rick remained by Carl's bedside while everyone else worked together gathering rocks for the memorial of two people that lost their life to save Carl. Owen wiped sweat from his forehead when everyone heard someone driving towards the farm.

Everyone turned in the direction of the sound and saw Dale, Daryl, Carol, Harold, Tyler and Andrea all arriving to the farm, with the redneck on his motorcycle in the front of the group. Everyone stopped what they were doing and headed towards the farm house, with T-Dog going inside to inform Rick and Lori about the arrival of the rest of the group.

They parked their vehicles and got out of them, as T-Dog came out of the farm house with Rick and Lori shorty after. Dale looked at Rick and asked, "How is he?"

"He'll pull through." Lori said, giving Dale, Carol, Tyler, Harold and Daryl an assuring smile, "Thanks to Hershel and his people."

"And Shane, and Chef." Rick added, "We'd have lost Carl if not for them."

Dale smiled at them and moved towards Rick, giving him a hug, as Carol walked over to Lori and gave her a hug as well, "Thank god. We were so worried."

Andrea walked over to T-Dog and the duo shared a quick hug as Harold and Tyler walked over to the teenagers from Total Drama, a few of them offering them a quick greets.

Dale and Rick released each other from the hug, the former asking, "How'd it happen?"

"Hunting accident." Rick answered with a small smile, "That's all-just a stupid accident."

Tyler could feel relief slowly overcoming his relief. Carl was okay. That was one less problem for them, but when he looked around, he saw that someone was missing, "Where's Chef? I can't see him anywhere."

Dale looked around and saw that Chef was indeed nowhere to be seen. He looked at Rick and asked, "That's right. Where is he?"

Rick sighed, "He, Shane and Otis, the man who shot Carl went out to get supplies required for Carl's operation. He and Otis didn't make it."

Dale just stared at Rick for a few seconds before nodding his head, sadly. Andrea and Daryl remained silent as well. Tyler and Harold looked around their fellow contestants silent nods were the only answer they needed to get from them, Chris' saddened expression confirming it as well. Harold looked down and Leshawna placed a comforting hand on his shoulder while Tyler's hand clenched into a fist angrily. Those things got one more person he knew.

Hershel walked up to everyone and said, "We are almost ready for Otis' and Chef's memorial, if you would like to join us."

"Of course." Rick said with a nod of his head, to which everyone else just nodded and followed Hershel towards the tree line where they began to put rocks into a small memorial while Hershel said a small prayer, honoring their sacrifice to save a young child's life.

When he finished he looked up at Shane, "Shane, will you speak for Otis and Chef?"

Shane just gave him a nervous smile in response, "I'm not good at it. I'm sorry."

"You were the last one with him. You shared his final moments." Patricia said in tears about her husband, "Please. I need to hear. I need to know his death had meaning."

"And I would like to know about Chef's last moments." Chris added, staring sadly at the pile of rocks in front of them.

Shane looked at them and nodded, starting with Chef, "We were trapped in a building. We were just separated from Otis who dragged the walkers away from us towards another room, from which he'd jump through the window. I and Chef jumped off the bleachers and moved towards the windows to jump outside through them, but the impact of the two of us landing on the floor at the same time must've been loud enough to bring the attention of the walkers that Otis just led towards another room back to us. He handed me his bag and said " _Go!_ " When I asked him what he was doing he said, " _Don't worry about me! Worry about the boy! I'll find other way out!_ ". After that he just ran forward, making sure that the walkers will follow him. Once I jumped through the window I heard him firing his shotgun, fighting them off, but then, it suddenly stopped."

Chris just gave Shane a grateful nod that he told him about his fellow hosts last moments as the contestants just gave silents nods, even Heather and Duncan were saddened.

Shane looked at Patricia and started explaining Otis' last moments, "As for Otis. I met up with him not long after I was separated from Chef. We were about done. Almost out of ammo. We were down to pistols by then. I was limping. It was bad. Ankle all swollen up. " _We've got to save the boy_ ". See, that's what he said. He gave me his backpack. He shoved me ahead. " _Run_ ",he said. He said, " _I'll take the rear. I'll cover you_ " And when I looked back..."

He didn't had to say more. Everyone understood what Shane saw when he looked back. He walked over to the memorial and placed two rocks on top of it, "If not for Otis and Chef, I'd have never made it out alive. And that goes for Carl too. It was them. They saved us both. If any death, ever had meaning, It was theirs."

* * *

After the memorial, Rick, Hershel, Maggie, Daryl, Duncan, Shane, Andrea, Chris, Tyler and Izzy all gathered around Carol's cherokee as Maggie walked over to the vehicle with a map.

"How long has this girl been lost?" Hershel asked.

"It would be three days, now." Duncan answered.

"County survey map. Shows terrain and elevations." Maggie said, as she put the map on the front of Carol's cherokee before placing rocks on the corners of the map.

"This is perfect. We can finally get this thing organized." Rick nodded, looking down at the map, "We'll grid the whole area,start searching in teams."

"Not you. Not today." Hershel quickly said, "You gave three units of blood. You wouldn't be hiking five minutes in this heat before passing out." He turned to look at Shane, "And your ankle-push it now,you'll be laid up a month,no good to anybody."

"Guess it's just me, and the these two." Daryl said while looking at Duncan and Izzy.

Izzy nodded her head, "We can pick up her trail."

Duncan responded by pointing at one spot on the map, "We're gonna head back to the creak, work our way from there."

"I can still be useful." Shane spoke up, "I'll drive up to the interstate, see if Sophia wandered back."

"All right, tomorrow then." Rick nodded his head, "We'll start doing this right."

"That means we can't have our people out there with just knives." Shane said, taking a quick look at their group setting their tents, "They need the gun training we've been promising them."

"I agree." Chris said. He still had the Glock that he found on the highway with him and now he knew that he had to learn how to use it if he wanted to survive against those things. They almost got him once back when they attacked their camp near Atlanta.

Hershel looked at Rick, "I'd prefer you not carrying guns on my property. We've managed so far without turning this into an armed camp."

"All due respect, you get a crowd of those things wandering in here..." Shane was interrupted.

Rick cut his best friend off, "Look, we're guests here. This is your property. And we will respect that. First things first: set camp, find Sophia."

The sheriff deputy took out his revolver and placed it on the car while Shane scoffed, placing his Glock on the car shorty after. Chris sighed and took out his Glock , before placing it on the car as well.

Tyler sighed, "I know that you're not going to like this question, but what happens when we find and she's bit. I don't want this to happen because we already lost so many people because of those things, but we still need to consider that."

Shane smiled, happy that someone was thinking like him as Rick hung his head low, "You do what has to be done."

"And her mother? What do you tell her?" Maggie asked.

"The truth." Andrea replied as Hershel looked at his daughter and shook his head, not wanting her to get involved.

"I'll gather and secure all the weapons. Make sure no one's carrying till we're at a practice range off site. I do request one rifleman on lookout. Dale's got experience," Shane said.

Rick looked at Hershel, "Our people would feel safer, less inclined to carry a gun." Hershel stared at him for a few seconds in silence before nodding his head, "Thank you."

"That stuff you brought, got more antibiotics,bandages,anything like that?" Maggie asked Rick.

"Just what you've seen." Andrea replied.

"We're running short already. I should make a run into town." Maggie said to her dad as Daryl, Shane, Izzy and Duncan walked away.

"Not the place Shane went?" Rick asked quickly.

"No, there's a pharmacy just a mile down the road. I've down it before." Maggie explained.

Rick turned towards his group, "See our man there in the baseball cap?" That's Glenn,our go-to-town expert. I'd ask him along just to be cautious."

Hershel motioned to Maggie to bring him along to which his daughter nodded her head.

"I can go too." Tyler said, "I've been going out to towns along with Glenn."

Rick shook his head, "No, Tyler. You just came here. I think you should stay and help everyone settle the camp."

Tyler nodded his head before walking towards the rest of the group along with Andrea.

Shane walked into the RV and picked up the bag of guns. He placed it over his shoulder and walked out, coming across Lori on his way, "I hear he woke up."

Lori responded with a wide smile, "Yeah. He's in and out, but yeah. He'll be all right."

"That's good." Shane said with a nod of his head. When Lori turned to walk away, he asked, "Did you mean it?"

Lori stopped and turned to look at him, "What?"

"You said stay. Did you mean it?" Shane asked, "Look,if you didn't just say so. But do it now. I need to know."

Lori stared at him for a moment before nodding her head, "I meant it."

Harold walked over to DJ, Bridgette, Leshawna, and Gwen, who were busy setting up a tent.

DJ turned back and saw him approaching them, greeting him with a smile, 'There you are, Harold."

"Good thing you came, sugarcube." Leshawna smiled at him, "We could use your help."

"Guys. We need to talk." Harold told them.

Gwen raised her brow, "About what?"

"An excellent question." Alejandro approached them with Sierra, Cody, Noah, Ezekiel, Heather, Courtney, Owen and Izzy walking behind him, "He told me to gather everyone here, because he wants to talk with us about something."

Harold eyed the group and saw that someone was missing, "Where's Duncan?"

"He walked off somewhere with Daryl." Izzy explained.

"I think I already know where they went." Courtney stated, assuming that Duncan and Daryl went out to find Sophia without anyone telling.

Harold nodded his head. He hated Duncan, but he'd have to talk with him about it too.

"What do you want to talk about?" Noah asked him.

"It's about Tyler." Harold said, taking a quick look at Tyler who was sitting around the picnic table with Shane and Andrea, chatting with both of them, "I'm worried about him."

"Like we all are, Harold." DJ assured him.

"Harold. He just lost his girlfriend. I think we should give him some time." Owen stated.

"No, guys." Harold shook his head, "I think he's starting to lose it. Last night when we went into the woods with Daryl and Andrea to look for Sophia and we came across a walker that was hanging from a tree. I stabbed it in the head and cut the rope, making it fall down on the ground. When we started to walk back towards the highway he stayed behind and smashed it's head into pieces. When I asked him what was he doing, he just said " _Just wanted to make sure_."."

"What is he really just wanted to make sure?" Cody asked.

Noah shook his head, already knowing that all you had to do was stabbing the walker in the head to get rid of it, "By smashing it's head into pieces after Harold killed it? I don't think so."

"My point is that it wasn't the first time when it happened." Harold continued as he looked at Alejandro, "Alejandro? Do you remember how he made sure that Lindsay wouldn't turn back in our near Atlanta?"

Alejandro thought for a few seconds, but recalled that it was exactly what Tyler did, "...He smashed her head into pieces."

"Exactly." Harold nodded his head, "And when I asked him about this, he just told me that it's his business how he deals with the walkers. I wouldn't pay much attention to it if they were still walking at the point when did that, but this is the ones that are already dead we're talking about. Afterwards, he refused to talk with me, Dale, Daryl, Carol. He only talked with Andrea."

The group of teenagers remained silent for a few seconds. Tyler talking with Andrea didn't suprise them that much, because the blond haired woman and Shane recently became the only people in the group that the red clothes teenager talked with, but the thing that got them worried was how Tyler started doing with the walkers that were already dead.

"Listen. I'm not excepting any of you to say anything about it to me, now." Harold said, noticing the silence that the rest gave him in response, understanding what he meant by that, "I just want you to keep in mind that there may be something bad going on with him and that we should keep an eye on him."

Everyone just gave him silent nods in response as Heather turned to leave, "I should leave now. Dale wanted me to help him and T-Dog with pumping the water."

"Look at that." Leshawna said, a hint of suprise showing on her facial features. Just a hint because her mind was still thinking about what Harold said to them about Tyler, "Someone finally decided to do something for the group."

Heather rolled her eyes at her comment, "Yeah, whatever you say. I didn't want to do this, but Dale somehow talked me into it."

Everyone watched her walk away as Alejandro stepped forward, intending to follow her, "I'll go with her."

* * *

Back at the house, Rick sat on the steps, staring into the sky and thinking when he saw Daryl and Duncan heading out to go looking for Sophia.

"Daryl, Duncan!" He called out to them and stood up, "You alright on your own?"

"Better on my own." Daryl said, beginning to walk away again.

"We'll be back before dark." Duncan added, heading off as well.

"Hey. We got a base." Rick said, making them stop, "We can get this search properly organized now."

"You got a point or are we just chatting?" Daryl asked him.

"Because if the answer is the latter then we're just wasting our time here." Duncan added.

"My point is it lets you off the hook. You don't owe us anything, both of you." Rick explained.

"My other plans fell through." Daryl replied and took off again, with Duncan taking off after him shorty after.

Rick watched them leave for a moment before turning back to the house to see that Hershel had just stepped out. He walked over to him, "We could give you more space. Set up over by the barn."

"No, no need for that. Better you stay close to the house." Hershel replied, "I don't say this easily, Rick. We don't normally take in strangers. I can't have your people thinking this is permanent. Once you find this girl and your boy's fit for travel, I expect you'll move on. We need to be clear on that."

* * *

Alejandro had just made it to Dale, T-Dog and Heather who were gathered around the spout to gather some water for the group.

"What are you doing here?" Heather asked him, suprised that Alejandro followed her.

"I thought you could use some help." Alejandro answered.

Heather crossed her arms, "You know that you didn't had to come. We're just pumping water."

"I know that but." Alejandro paused for a second and walked over to T-Dog who had his hand on the pumper, "Dog, I can do this for you. Your other hand is still healing."

T-Dog stared at Alejandro for a few seconds before letting go off the water pumper, "Go ahead, kid."

Alejandro nodded his head and placed his hand on the water pumper. He began to pump the well and water started to pour into their bucket.

"Guys, you think there's a snowball's chance we'll actually find that little girl?" T-Dog asked all three of them.

"For the first time in my life I'm betting on the snowball." Dale said, beginning to walk towards the well.

Alejandro nodded his head to T-Dog's words, "That makes the two of us."

"I'm with you guys on this one. I wouldn't recommend getting lost in the forest to anyone, even to my worst enemies." Heather agreed. The one time when she thought she was lost on an abandoned island with Duncan, Gwen and Owen was on her mind when she said these words, "And with those things around it's even worse."

Dale crouched down to take a look at the well and quickly shot back to his feet after seeing what was inside. Heather lowered a landle and filled it with water before bringing it towards her lips. Dale quickly ran over to her and slapped it out of her hand.

"What was that, Dale?" Heather glared at him.

"I wouldn't drink that if I were you." Dale answered, earning confused looks from Heather, Alejandro and T-Dog.

He led them to the well and pointed downards and T-Dog, Alejandro and Heather now understood why Dale slapped the landle out of Heather's hand. A large walker was trapped in the well.

"Great." Heather said, "Just great."

"Should I get the others?" Alejandro asked them.

Dale, T-Dog and Heather could only nod their heads in agreement.

* * *

A few minutes later Alejandro returned with Shane, Andrea, Tyler, Izzy, Glenn, DJ, Maggie, Ezekiel, Noah and Courtney to show them their recent finding in the well. Everyone gathered around the well and crouched down, taking a look at the large in the well, looking aimessly around it's surroundings, unaware that it was being watched.

"Looks like we've got us a swimmer." Dale said, shining light into the walker.

"For how long was it there?" Glenn asked.

"The question should be how hasn't anyone noticed it until now." Noah pointed out.

"I think it's easy to say that it was there long enough to grow gills." Andrea stated.

"We can't leave it in there." Courtney stated, "God knows what it's doing to the water."

"We got to get it out." Shane stated.

"How are we going to do that?" Heather asked, knowing how lucky she was that Dale stopped her from drinking water from this well.

"Easy." T-Dog answered, "Put a bullet in it's head. I'll get a rope."

"Whoa whoa, guys." Maggie said as everyone turned to look at her. She shook her head, "No."

"Why not?" Glenn asked, "It's a good plan."

"It's a stupid plan. If that thing hasn't contaminated the water yet, blowing it's brains out will finish the job." Andrea explained.

"Eh, maybe we should just seal this well away." Ezekiel asked, looking at Maggie, "I'm sure that this farm has more wells than just this one. My farm did."

Maggie shook her head, "We have more, but sealing it away would be a waste of the water."

"It wouldn't make much difference." Noah stated, turning to look at her, "Do you think that anyone is going drink from this one after that?"

"I surely won't." Heather stated.

"So it has to come out alive?" T-Dog asked, a bit annoyed.

Shane smirked, "So to speak."

Tyler sighed and crossed his arms, "I have a bad feeling about this."

"How do we do that?" Glenn asked as everyone looked at him, "What?"

Alejandro shared a quick look with most of the people around the well, and said to Glenn, knowing that all of them must've have the same idea as he, "You probably are not going to like it."

Glenn send him a confused look, "I'll say it again, what?"

The asian man got his answer a few minutes later. Izzy wrapped tightly rope around his waist and looked around herself, "It's done. It should hold him for long enough."

Shane nodded his head as Glenn turned to look at him, "Have I mentioned that I really like your new haircut? You have a nice shaped head."

"Don't worry about it,bud. Hey, we're gonna get you out of here in one piece." Shane answered, giving him a quick pat on his back.

"Don't worry, Glenn." Izzy said, sending Glenn an assuring look, "We'll make sure you come back in one piece."

"Living piece. That living part is important." Glenn said.

Shane and Izzy walked over to the rope that was wrapped around the well spout, where Alejandro, DJ, Tyler, Courtney, Ezekiel and Andrea were already waiting for them while Maggie, T-Dog, Noah, Dale, and Heather stood nearby, watching them.

"Nice and slow, please." Glenn said as they began to lower him into the well.

DJ send him an assuring look, "We gotcha, Glenn."

"You people are crazy." Maggie stated.

"You're the one who wanted to get it out of the well, even though nobody is going to drink from that." Noah pointed out.

"Can one of you give us an eye?" Alejandro asked.

T-Dog walked over and looked down, watching how Glenn was slowly being lowered into the well, "How are you going there?"

Glenn send him a nervous look in response, "Doing great, pal. Living the dream."

The group proceeded to lower Glenn for a few more seconds until T-Dog turned to look at them, "Little lower, guys."

Just then the spout came loose from the ground and went flying towards the well. Izzy quickly leaped herself towards it, thankfully catching it while Glenn screamed for help as he was not practically inches away from the walker. Everyone, even those who weren't lowering the rope a few moments earlier went over to Izzy and started to help her in pulling the spout away from the well.

"Oh my god! Get me out of here!" Glenn's panicked scream rang out from the well.

The group made it to safe distance away from the well. Knowing that in this distance, and with the others making sure the spout wasn't going to fall into the well, Shane, Alejandro and DJ rose back into their feet and started pulling the rope towards them. Glenn's head finally poked from the top of the hole in the ground and he pulled himself out from the well shorty after.

Everyone gathered around him, DJ asking him, "Are you okay?"

Glenn nodded his head after a few moment as Dale took a deep breath, "Back to the drawing board."

The asian man stood up from the ground and handed the rope to him, giving him a small smile, "Says you."

He walked away from them to catch a breath as everyone walked over to the well to see that, despise the situation he found himself in, he somehow managed to tie the rope around the walker.

A smile formed on Izzy's lips, "He actually did it."

Alejandro turned to look at Glenn, "Good job."

Glenn gave him a quick thumbs up in response, while trying to catch a breath.

* * *

Daryl and Duncan came out from the forest, instantly spotting an abandoned house ahead of them. The younger Dixon took his crossbow off his back and readied it while Duncan did the same with his bow.

"Think we're going to find her here?" He asked Daryl, walking towards the house with him.

"I hope so." Daryl answered, "This looks like a place where she could hide."

Duncan nodded his head, "Took these words out of my mouth."

They made their way over to the doors and Duncan loaded an arrow into his bow to be prepared just in case if there'll be any walkers in this house. Daryl pointed his crossbow at the doors, before kicking them open. He and Duncan slowly walked inside and looked around the house, trying to spot Sophia or something that would lead them to her.

Daryl spotted something in a nearby trashcan when they were making their way through the kitchen. He picked up an opened tin of sardines and showed it off to Duncan, "Take a look at this."

"It looks like someone opened it not that long ago." Duncan observed.

Daryl placed the tin back in the trashcan and spotted a doors which were slightly opened on the other side of the kitchen. He made a gesture to his head to Duncan who looked in the same direction as he did. They slowly walked over to the doors and Duncan opened them. There wasn't Sophia in there, but there was something that she could made. He quickly spotted a small sleeping spot that looked like it was made for a child.

He moved away, allowing Daryl to take a quick look at this too, before asking him, "Do you think she made it?"

"It is most likely." Daryl gave him a quick nod in response, "An adult wouldn't fit in here, but a child like her surely would."

Daryl turned away from the sleeping spot and the two of them exited the kitchen and headed towards the exit from this house. Sophia wasn't in this house and they didn't had a reason to stay inside of it for longer.

"Sophia!" Daryl yelled after stepping out of the house, just in case if Sophia was nearby, "Sophia!'

"Are you in here, somewhere!?" Duncan cried out shorty after, having the same reasons as Daryl did.

The juvie stepped towards the forest, crying out for Sophia a few more times and a flower growing not too far from the house caught Daryl's attention. He walked over to the flower and crouched down, taking a good look at it.

Duncan turned to him and saw him crouching in front of a flower. He walked over to the redneck and asked him, "What are you looking at?"

Daryl turned away from the flower and looked at Duncan, "You don't know what that is?"

"No." Duncan shook his head, "Looks like a regular flower to me."

Daryl turned his gaze back to the flower, before giving Duncan a quick explanation what kind of the flower this was, and what it meant.

* * *

Meanwhile at the farm, Shane, Alejandro, DJ, Courtney, Glenn, Andrea, Tyler, Izzy and Ezekiel all pulled on the rope slowly pulling the walker up the well. T-Dog, Noah and Heather stood in front of the well, giving them a quick information about where the walker, and how close it was to being pulled off out of the well.

"Come one, guys! Pull." T-Dog shouted.

"Come on y'all!" Shane shouted in encouragement as everyone kept pulling as hard as they could.

"This ugly thing is almost there!" Heather declared as the walkers head popped from the well.

She, Noah and T-Dog took a few steps away from the undead and looked at it in disgust after spotting that it's eyed were almost coming out of it's skull. The first half of the walker was easily moved over the well into the ground, but it's lower half was stuck, and it didn't seem like it was going to move anywhere.

"Guys!" Noah was quick to inform them, "It's stuck!"

The walker grunted, reaching it's hands towards T-Dog, Heather and Noah who only watched how the others we pulling it towards themselves with all the strength they had. It was when it seemed like the walker's body had enough of it. It split in the half and everyone pulling the rope fell on the ground at the sudden weight change. The entire lower half of the walker fell into the well, filling it with it's guts while it's upper half remained on the ground.

Alejandro sat up and put his hand on his forehead, "You gotta be kidding me."

Everyone stood up and most of them walked towards the walker. DJ and Courtney stayed in the back because they had to barf after seeing the gruesome scene in front of them as Tyler walked over to his baseball bat which laid on the ground a few meters away from them.

"If anyone had any doubts before, I think it's easy to say that none is going to drink it from it now." Noah stated, staring disgusted as the scene in front of him.

"What do we do now, eh?" Ezekiel asked.

Shane sighed, giving Ezekiel a quick pat on his back. "It looks like we're going to use your idea, Zeke."

"I think we should deal with this guy before we seal it." Izzy stated as the upper half of the walker was still trying to reach out for them, snapping and closing it's jaw every moment as it did so.

"I got this." Tyler said, walking past her with his baseball bat in ready. He brought it down on the walker's head, instantly killing it, but he didn't stop with just killing it. He proceeded to bring his weapon down at it's head several more times, until there was nothing but pieces left of it's head.

Everyone just stared disgusted at what just became of the undead's head as Shane walked over to Tyler and put his hand on his shoulder, stopping him from continuing, because it didn't seem like Tyler was going to end anytime soon.

"Hey." He said, making Tyler turn to look at him, "It's done, kid."

Tyler breathed in to take a deep breath and nodded his head at him. He turned to the rest of the group and said, ignoring the fact that his entire baseball bat was covered in blood, "I knew it wasn't going to end well."

* * *

Not long that they took care of the walker in the well, Shane, Andrea, Carol and Chris went to the highway, waiting for some time, hoping that Sophia was going to show up at any moment. Carol stood in front of the car they used for a sign for her daughter.

There was an inscription painted on it in white, " _Sophia stay here. We will come every day._ "

Andrea walked over to Carol and put her hand on her shoulder, comfortingly, "We'll come again tomorrow. You know there's always the chance..."

Carol cut her off, "Don't. I really don't need to hear it anymore, Andrea. Save the thoughts and prayers."

"You never know, Carol." Shane said, but Carol simply waved him off to shush.

Shane shared a quick look with the host of Total Drama before walking off with him. A few minutes later, he lead Chris, Andrea and Carol into a field on their way back to Hershel's, coming across a fence on their way.

"Look at this." Shane pointed at the fence, "We can hang targets along that fence line there. That rise,It gives a natural backstop. It's a good idea."

"How long before you'll teach us?" Chris asked.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." Shane gave him a short chuckle in response, "I and remember seeing your face after Shane gave you that Glock before he left with me and Otis. It was clearly saying that you weren't fond of the idea of having to use a gun. What made you chance your mind?"

Chris sighed, "It just want to know how. If those things got Chef of all people, then how it'll take them to get me? They almost got me when they attacked our camp in Atlanta, and I wouldn't be here if there wasn't a rock laying nearby. I barely know how to defend myself, and dying by one of those things is not how I want to go."

"Good thing that you changed your mind, pal. I hope that at least some of the kids from that show of yours will share your mind about it. Desire will take you a long way and it won't get you killed by the walkers." Shane said to Chris before shifting the glances between the host and Andrea, "But there's something you need to know, both of you."

"I'm listening." Andrea said as Chris nodded in agreement.

Shane started explaining as the moved towards the fence, "Paper targets is one thing. Easy to hit what ain't moving. But taking down an assailant,one that's trying to kill you, it's different. They say in that kind of situation things slow down. That's crap. They speed up. Adrenalin, ha. It'll cripple you if you let it. You need to use your instinct. You got to rule it out. Because somebody is going to die and you'd better hope that you're the one who's making that decision."

"How do you do that?" Andrea asked as they reached the fence.

Shane placed his shotgun on the fence and continued, "Turn off a switch. The switch. The one that makes you scared or angry,sympathetic,whatever. You don't think. You just-you act. 'Cause odds are somebody else is counting on you. That's your partner. That's your friend. There ain't nothing easy about taking a man's life no matter how little value it may have. But when you get it done, you have to forget it."

* * *

Rick and Hershel had returned to the house after going on a walk together. The sheriff deputy looked at the camp and saw everyone sitting peacfully, "You need to reconsider."

"I beg your pardon?" Hershel asked.

Rick turned away from the camp and looked at Hershel, "Asking us to leave. You need to reconsider. If you saw how it is out there you wouldn't ask. You're a man of belief. If you believe anything,believe that."

"You're putting me on the spot." Hershel told him.

"Well, I mean to." Rick nodded his head, "Those people look to me for answers. I wish they didn't, but they do. But I'm not asking for them or myself. I'm asking for my boy. After the price your friend Otis paid and our friend Chef paid, the least you can do is give it some thought."

Hershel smiled, "You're a plainspoken man."

"I'm a father." Rick said as he sat down on the steps leading into the house, "He's the one thing I don't want to fail. I feel like I do every day. I lied to him this morning. It wasn't a big lie, but it was enough."

"My father didn't bother with comforting lies." Hershel began, "He used his fist. He was a loveless, violent drunk and no good to anybody. He drove me home when I was 15. Didn't lay eyes on this place again for many years. I was not at his deathbed, Rick. I would not grant him that and to this day do not regret it. Some men do not earn the love of their sons. I don't see you having that problem."

"Will you consider my request?" Rick asked Hershel as the farmer sat down on the steps next to him.

Hershel nodded his head, "There are aspects to this,things that I can't and won't discuss. But if you and your people respect my rules,no promises,but I will consider it. You have my word."

* * *

Duncan and Daryl just made it back to the camp and started looking around it for a certain person. They saw her walking into Dale's RV. They walked over to the RV and walked into it, seeing Carol sitting at the table.

"Hello, Daryl, Duncan." She greeted them.

Duncan looked around Dale's RV and saw that someone must have cleaned it up. One the things that made him think like that was the fact that all of the dishes were shining, "Someone cleaned this place up?"

"I did. Wanted it to be nice for her." Carol explained.

Daryl and Duncan nodded their heads, the former saying, "For a second I thought I was in the wrong place."

"That makes the two of us." Duncan nodded his head in agreement.

Daryl took out a bottle that was filled with water and one of the flowers that he and Duncan found in the forest was coming out of it. He placed it on the table as Carol raised her brow in confusion.

"A flower?" She asked them, not understanding why they brought it here.

"It's a Cherokee Rose." Duncan answered, now knowing that kind of flower it was after Daryl explained it to him, "At least that's what he told me."

"The story is that when american soldiers were moving Indians off their land on the Trail of Tears the Cherokee mothers were grieving and crying so much 'cause they were losing their little ones along the way from exposure and disease and starvation." Daryl began explaining what kind of a flower it was to Carol, just like he did to Duncan when they were out in the forest, looking for Sophia, "A lot of them just disappeared. So the elders, they said a prayer;asked for a sign to uplift the mother's spirits,give them strength and hope. The next day this Rose started to grow right where the mothers tears fell. I'm not fool enough to think there's any flowers blooming for my brother."

Carol wiped her teary eyes as Daryl continued, "But I..." He paused for a moment, before turning to look at Duncan for a second, "We believe this one bloomed for your little girl."

* * *

The sun was gone from the horizon and everyone in the group settled down in their camp for the rest of the day, talking with each other about various things, or just sitting in silence, looking at the darkened sky of the night, thinking about some things.

Rick sat by his son's side, waiting for him to wake up so he could have a talk with him about Sophia. Finally his son opened his eyes and saw his dad sitting next to him. He whispered, "...Dad?"

"Hey." Rick looked at his son with a small smile, but it faded when he spoke up to him, "Carl, I told you something earlier today about Sophia..."

"I know." Carl said softly, "Mom told me."

A smirk formed on Rick's lips, but his smirk disappeared from his face as soon as it showed up, "Here I was getting ready to confess. I didn't mean to lie. I just didn't want to worry you. It's a stupid excuse but it's all I got."

"It's okay." Carl assured him, "Do you think we'll find her?"

"I know we will. Well..." Rick paused for a moment and sighed, "I don't know. But I truly believe it."

"You look tired." Carl stated.

Rick chuckled, "I am tired."

"Hey, I'm like you now. We've both been shot." Carl pointed out,taking a quick look at his chest, "Isn't that weird?"

"Yeah, I think your mom would rather hear we got the same eyes. So let's keep that between us." Rick smiled as Carl laughed quietly, "Since you're in the club now,you get to wear the hat. Didn't you know?" He picked up his sheriff hat and placed it on Carl's head, "We'll pad the rim tomorrow so it sits better."

"Won't you miss it?" Carl wanted to know, touching the top of the hat.

"Maybe you'll let me borrow it from time to time." Rick suggested.

"We can share it." Carl offered.

"Okay." Rick nodded his head, beginning to fix the blanket, "Sleep now."

"I love you, dad." Carl said, lowering the hat to cover his eyes.

Rick smiled at his son, "I love you."

After his son slowly drifted into sleep, Rick pulled out his badge and stared it for a few seconds before standing up. He came out of Carl's room and entered another one. He walked over to the dresser and started taking his sheriff shirt off, before folding it. He opened the dressed and placed it inside. He took out his badges shorty after and stared at them for a moment, before placing them inside as well, laying them on top of his sheriff shirt.


	11. Chupacabra

Lori opened her eyes, awakening from her slumber. She looked around her tent, only to find out that her husband and son were nowhere to be seen. She reached out to her side and picked up a clock to see that she slept in. She put the clock down and quickly got herself ready for the day. She slipped into her shoes before stepping out of her tent, offering a quick good morning to Dale, Owen and Noah who happened to be walking by.

She turned her attention to Carol, Bridgette and DJ who were all busy hanging the clothes to dry. She walked over to them, "I can't believe I slept in."

"You must have needed it." Carol stated.

DJ nodded his head in agreement, hanging some wet clothes on the line, "Everyone needs a good sleep once in a while."

"Feeling all right?" Bridgette asked Lori.

"Next time wake me, all right?" Lori said, placing some wet clothes on her shoulder, "Especially on laundry day."

"Don't worry about it." Carol assured her, "DJ volunteered to do this for you."

"I didn't had much to do." DJ explained to Lori, turning to look at her for a second, "And I could share the idea I got with Carol and Bridgette."

Lori titled her head, "What idea?"

"That kitchen of their got me thinking. Maybe we all pitch in and cook dinner for Hershel and his family tonight. To show that we're grateful for everything." DJ said, a hopeful grin forming on his lips.

"I wouldn't mind cooking in a real kitchen again." Carol said, already agreeing with DJ's idea.

"And after they'll taste DJ's cooking, then they will surely understand that we're grateful for everything they did for us." Bridgette added, agreeing with DJ's idea just like Carol.

Lori nodded her head, "After everything they've done for us,seems like the least we could do."

"You mind extending the invitation? Would just feel more right coming from you." Carol said.

Lori raised her brow, "How so?"

"You're Rick's wife. It sort of makes you our unofficial first lady." Carol explained, making Lori grin a bit at how she called her.

"Morning,guys. Let's get going." Rick's voice sounded across the camp and everyone turned to see him walking along with Shane. Everyone stared at him for a second because it was the first time when they saw him without his sheriff outfit. Andrea, T-Dog, Tyler, Duncan, Alejandro, Izzy, Chris and Daryl all stopped what they were doing and followed them to Carol's cherokee.

Rick placed a map on top of the vehicle, and started explaining to everyone gathered around him, "We've got a lot of ground to cover. All right, everyone's getting new search grids today. If she made it as far as the farmhouse Daryl and Duncan found, she might have gone further east than we've been so far."

"I'd like to help." A new voice rang out behind him and everyone turned their attention to it to see Jimmy, a teenager that was staying at Hershel's farm and Beth's boyfriend approaching them, "I know the area pretty well and stuff."

"Hershel's okay with this?" Rick asked, wanting to be sure.

"Yeah." Jimmy assured him with a nod of his head, "He said I should ask you."

Rick offered him a grateful nod in response, "All right then. Thanks."

"Nothing about what Daryl found screams Sophia to me." Shane stated, "Anyone could have been holed up in that farmhouse."

"Anybody includes her, right?" Andrea asked him.

"I doubt that it was an adult. The sleeping spot that we found there was made for a child." Duncan stated.

"Whoever slept in that cupboard was no bigger than yay-high." Daryl added, moving his hand to his stomach to clarify his point.

"Good lead." Izzy stated. She'd go with Duncan and Daryl yesterday to look for Sophia with them but the entire situation with the walker in the well kept her occupied, and she had no idea that they were going out to look for Sophia in the first place.

"It's better than nothing." Tyler stated.

"Maybe we'll pick up her trail again." Rick stated.

"No maybe about it. I and Duncan gonna borrow a horse, head up to this ridge right here,take a bird's-eye view of the whole grid." Daryl said, pointing at the said spot on the map, "If she's up there, we'll spot her."

T-Dog nodded his head in agreement, "Good idea."

Duncan turned to the younger Dixon, remembering something from the first days of all of this, "And who knows, maybe you'll get to see your Chupacabra up there too and maybe I'll get to see him for the first time."

Rick narrowed his eyes, "Chupacabra?"

"You never heard this?" Alejandro said as he pulled out a rifle out from the bag of guns and placed it on the car, a grin forming in his lips at the mention of Daryl seeing Chupacabra, "It happened right after the bombing of Atlanta. It was during our first night in camp, Daryl tells us that the whole thing reminds him of a time he went squirrel hunting and he saw a Chupacabra."

Jimmy laughed, angering Daryl, "What are you braying at, jackass?"

"You believe in a blood-sucking dog?" Jimmy asked him.

"Do you believe in dead people walking around?" Daryl retorted, before gesturing towards Chris, Izzy, Duncan, Tyler and Alejandro, "And these ones here had a freaking yeti on their show."

Chris raised his brow, pulling out his Glock from the bag, "How do you know that?"

"I never thought of you as the type of a guy guy that watches reality shows." Andrea stated.

"It's because I didn't. Izzy and Duncan told me about it when we were out hunting back when we were in Atlanta." Daryl clarified, slunging his crossbow over his shoulder.

Just then Jimmy reached down to pick up the rifle, but was stopped by Rick who was the first one to notice it, "Ever fire one before?"

"Well, if I'm going out, I want one." Jimmy said with a small shrug as Rick picked up the rifle for himself.

"Do you even know how to fire one?" Duncan asked him.

Jimmy shook his head, "No."

"Then stick to the knife." Duncan told him, before walking away with Daryl to get a horse.

"Why don't you come with us to train tommorow?" Chris asked Jimmy, "Shane is going to teach us."

"That's right. I'm a certified instructor." Shane confirmed with a nod of his head.

"For now he can come with us." Andrea said, pulling out her pistol from the bag, and checking if everything was okay with it.

"He's yours to babysit then." Shane told her to which Andrea nodded her head in response.

"All right, Andrea, Chris, Tyler T-Dog,I want you guys..." Rick began, starting to split everyone in teams. The teams split into Chris, Andrea, Tyler, T-Dog, and Jimmy. Izzy and Alejandro. Shane and Rick. And lastly Daryl and Duncan, but Rick didn't had much to say about the last team, because Daryl and Duncan already left to get a horse.

* * *

Shane and Rick have been walking through the part of the forest that they were assigned to by the latter, looking for Sophia for a while now and they couldn't find anything that could lead them to Carol's daughter.

"You remember the name of that waitress at the Dairy Queen when we were in High School?" Rick said, trying to start a conversation with his best friend, because they've been walking in complete silence for a while now, "I know you, Shane, well enough to know that there is only one sure-fire way of engaging you in a conversation,and that is to start asking you about girls you did in High School. I don't want to,but I'll willing to do it if that's what it takes."

Shane looked at him, "Maryanne. I told you about her?"

Rick shook his head, "In excruciating detail."

"Excruciating,my ass." Shane grinned, "You used to live for those details back in the day."

"I was impressionable." Rick stated, making his friend chuckle, "And I may have been living vicariously through you."

"Why wouldn't you,with my impressive list of accomplishments?" Shane said, proudly, "I was an artist in his prime. A protege."

"You mean prodigy." Rick corrected.

Shane smirked, "Maybe. Is prodigy what you called a young High School stud that bangs 30-year-olds on the regular?"

"What 30-year-old were you banging in High School?" Rick asked with a small scoff.

"The P.E. teacher." Shane answered.

Rick raised his eyesbrows, "Mr Daniels?"

"Mrs. Kelly." Shane corrected, his smirk not leaving his face.

"The girls volleyball coach? Wasn't she married?" Rick asked, not believing him.

"You know what I just remembered?" Shane told him, "Why I never ask you about this stuff. Why don't we talk about your High School love life then,huh?"

Rick hung his head a bit, "Well, that's a short conversation. It may even already be over."

That right? There was Holly, right?" Shane said as Rick stayed silent. Shane quickly realized one thing about Holly, "Nope, that was me too, and then there was Sheila. That's the one you lied to me about."

"I never lied about Sheila. I just got mixed up about what the bases meant." Rick explained.

"Just so you know,a home run, that usually means a sexual act. That's intercourse." Shane pointed out, "And I think what you did was more like a ground rule double or something."

"I'm aware of the judge's ruling." Rick told him.

"Shouldn't be talking about this stuff. That life,it's gone and everyone in it." Shane stated, a bit coldly, "Sheila. Maryanne. . It's like we're old folk. All the people in our stories are all dead."

"We can't just forget them." Rick stated.

"The hell we can't. It's hard enough accepting what's happened without digging up the past." Shane said, taking off his hat, "I'll tell you what it is. It's nostalgia. It's like a drug. Keeps you from seeing things the way they are. That's a danger. You got people depending on you."

"You think I don't know that?" Rick asked him, stopping.

Shane shrugged his shoulders as he stopped as well, "I don't know. What are we doing? You got every able body at your disposal out scourging these woods for a little girl we both know is likely dead."

"You think we should abandon the search?" Rick replied with a bit of defiance.

"It's not my call, is it?" Shane remarked.

"I'm asking." Rick said as Shane moved past him, starting to walk again, "I'm asking."

"Survival, Rick. It means making hard decisions. But you've got this knack. You spread us thinner and thinner. I'm trying to save lives here and you're out saving cats from trees." Shane said, raising his voice.

"Is that what you think Sophia is?" Rick asked, moving ahead of Shane to stop him from walking further, "A cat in a tree?"

"Don't do that,man. Don't twist my words." Shane said, shaking his head, "How many times we get called up to look for a missing child, man? You got 72 hours. 72 hours,and after that you're looking for a body. And that was before. I mean honestly think we're just gonna find Sophia alive?"

"Are you that sure we won't?" Rick asked, stepping closer to Shane.

"We being completely honest?" Shane asked back.

Rick narrowed his eyes,"I'm counting on you to be."

"It's math, man. Love or not, Sophia, she only matters, to the degree in which she don't drag the rest of us down." Shane said as Rick looked at him in disgust. Shane laughed at his reaction, "I thought you wanted honest. If we'd just moved on, man, we'd be halfway to Fort Benning right now and Carl wouldn't have gotten shot. You said so yourself. But we're out here, we're risking lives. Your own son almost died. Otis, he paid that bill. So did Chef. What the hell are we still doing this for?"

Rick stepped right up to Shane, angrily, "I had her in my hand, Shane. She looked in my eyes and trusted me. I failed her. If I hadn't,she wouldn't be out here. I think she's still alive and I'm not-I'm not gonna write her off."

* * *

Daryl and Duncan had already left the farm on a horse. Daryl sat in front of the animal while Duncan sat in the back. The two of them rode in silence for most of the time, spending most of their time looking around, trying to spot any trail that would hopefully lead them to Sophia, or trying to spot any small animals like a squirrel that would become a nice meal for the group.

They came across crossroads after several minutes of riding across the forest, but neither of them was suprised to see it. In fact this was how they were planning to check this area. They were planning to split up and check both of the paths at the same time.

"I guess." Duncan said, hopping off the horse and taking his bow off his back, "This is where we part ways."

"Remember how we planned this." Daryl told him, watching how Duncan walked towards the path on the right, "We'll met here in two hours."

Duncan nodded his head, telling the redneck that he remember how they planned this as Daryl turned away from him, motioning the horse to ride into the path on the left.

"Hey redneck." The juvie called out as Daryl turned to look at him once again, with a roll of his eyes at how he called him, "Good luck in finding her."

The younger Dixon gave him a small nod of his head in response, "Same to you, juvie."

Duncan watched how Daryl and the horse slowly disappeared from his view before slowly stepping into his path. For the next hour he proceeded to walk along the path, observing his surroundings for any possible traces of someone, possibly Sophia being nearby, and eventually taking out a walker or two on his way with an arrow from his bow.

He loaded another arrow into his bow and focused his entire attention on a small squirrel that was climbing up the tree. He breathed in when the small animal stopped in the middle of a tree and released the arrow. It flied right towards the squirell but didn't manage to hit it's target as the squirrel moved upwards, just moments before the arrow hit the three, landing right in the spot where the small animal was just a few seconds ago.

The juvie groaned in irritation, "You just had to move? Didn't you?"

He moved towards the tree and pulled the arrow out of it. He looked up to see the squirell on top of the tree. He decided to let it go. One hour has already passed since he parted ways with Daryl and he couldn't waste more time. He'd have to move back to the spot where they parted ways soon and he still wasn't even close to finding Sophia.

He walked past the tree and moved further, spotting footprints a few minutes later. He crouched down and eyed them for a few seconds. They were definitely fresh. Someone was nearby. He rised back to his feet and loaded an arrow into his bow. That could have been anyone. Someone alive or a walker and he had to be ready to take it down if this was the latter.

He carefully took a step forward, shouting, "Sophia! Are you here?!"

He heard how someone must have been starled by his scream shorty after. He carefully took more steps forward and spotted a person that must have been the person that was starled by his sudden scream. This person was definitely still alive and was a man around his age but he couldn't tell how this person looked like because he was turned around.

He took one more step forward and the person turned around, finally giving the juvie a good look at his face. Just like Duncan assumed, this person was around his age. He had messy blond hair that wasn't washed in weeks. He wore brown jacket, blue jeans and black boots. All of them were flithy. This guy must have been on the road for a long time.

"Stay back!" The unknown guy shouted, pulling out his pistol and aiming it at Duncan responded by aiming his arrow straight at his head.

Duncan didn't know why but he felt like he already met this guy. He knew that he knew that face from somewhere. It took him a moment to remember, but when he finally did, his eyes shot open in realization, "Timothy?"

The young man who was now recognized as Timothy narrowed his blue eyes at Duncan, before recognizing him, "Duncan?"

* * *

Daryl continued to ride through the forest on a horse, eventually stopping to shoot a squirrel. He just stopped to attempt to shoot one down, succeding in it. He pulled the arrow that was keeping the now dead squirrel stick to a tree. He placed the squirrel on the slot in his belt before climbing on the horse again. He rode for a few minutes before something caught his attention in a small pond.

He instantly recognized it as Sophia's doll that was given to her by Morales' daughter. He hopped off the horse and tied it to a tree to make sure it wasn't going to leave him all alone here before stepping down the hill towards the pond. He picked up the doll which was soaked and looked around.

"Sophia!" He cried out, hoping that Sophia was nearby, "Sophia!"

He waited for a few minutes, but Carol's daughter was nowhere to be seen. He knew she wasn't here. She made his way back to the horse and untied it from the tree. He hopped into the animal and started riding away from the pond on it. A few seconds later, a few birds flew upwards in front the, starling the horse a bit.

"Easy, easy." The younger Dixon said to calm the horse down.

The horse calmed down after a few seconds and Daryl proceeded to ride on it a few more moments until they came across a snake that was laying on the ground, the redneck failing to notice it in time. The snake slithered across the ground, starling the horse which bucked widly, throwing Daryl off him. Daryl grunted upon the impact of landing on the ground, but it wasn't over. He started to roll down the hill into the pond as the horse ran away, leaving him alone.

"Son of a bitch." He cursed to himself before grunting in pain. He turned to the place from which this pain came from and saw an arrow sticking out his abdomen.

He knew he couldn't lay there for long. He slowly crawled his way out of the pond into the land and the first thing he did after that was cutting the sleeves of his shirt and wrapping them around his fresh wound. He looked up at the hill from which he fell down and saw the way he will climb through with an arrow in his body. It made him realize one thing. That he was not going to like it.

He slowly rose back to his feet and picked up a stick, before hearing some noises coming from the bushes. He turned to the source of the noise before walking back to the pond, moving the stick around it in order to find his crossbow, managing to find it after a few moments.

He made sure his crossbow was going stay on his back, so he wouldn't have to go bac for it and made his way out of the pond once again. He started to climb up the hill, grunting in pain every moment as he did so because of the arrow sticking out through his body. When he was in the half, he grabbed into one stick sticking out from the ground, and he regretted doing it just a second after.

He collapsed down, rolling down the hill until landing on a ground in front of a pond.

His vision was blury when someone walked over to him a few seconds later. To his shock he recognized this person as his brother Merle who knelt down in front of him, "Why don't you pull that arrow out,dummy? You could bind your wound better."

Daryl let out a weak, "Merle." in response.

Merle let out a small chuckle, "What's going on here? You taking a siesta or something?"

"Having a shitty day, bro." Daryl muttered loud enough for his brother to hear.

Merle grinned, "Like me to get your pillow? Maybe rub your feet?"

"Screw you." Daryl told him in response.

"Huh-uh." Merle shook his head, "You're the one screwed from the looks of it. All them years I spent trying to make a man of you, this is what I get? Look at you. Lying in the dirt like a used rubber. You're gonna die out here, little brother. And for what?"

"A girl. They lost a little girl." Daryl weakly answered.

"So you got a thing for little girls now?" Merle smirked.

"Shut up." Daryl quietly spat out.

"'Cause I noticed you ain't out looking for old Merle no more." Merle pointed out.

"Tried like hell to find you, bro." Daryl said.

"Like hell you did. You split,man." Merle pointed out, "Lit out first chance you got."

"You lit out. All you had to do was wait. We went back for you." Daryl explained, "Rick and I, we did right by you."

"This the same Rick that cuffed me to the rooftop in the first place? Forced me to cut off my own hand? This him we're talking about here? You his bitch now?" Merle taunted his brother.

"I ain't nobody's bitch." Daryl said, sternly.

"You're a joke is what you are, playing errand boy to a bunch of pansy-asses,niggers and democrats." Merle chuckled but his chuckle quickly turned into a frown, "You're nothing but a freak to them. Redneck trash. That's all you are. They're laughing at you behind your back. You know that, don't you? I got a little news for you, son. One day they gonna scrape you off their heels like you was dogshit. Hey. They ain't your kin, your blood. Hell, you had any damn nuts in that sack of yours, you'd got back there and shoot your pal Rick in the face for me. Now you listen to me. Ain't nobody ever gonna care about you except me,little brother. Ain't nobody ever will. Come on, get up on your feet before I have to kick your teeth in. Let's go."

Merle grabbed Daryl's shoes and started rocking him back and forth to force him to get up but Daryl remained in his place. The younger Dixon closed his eyes and when he opened them he saw that his brother was nowhere to be seen but something worse appeared in his view. He jumped back when he saw a walker trying to bury it's teeth in his shoe.

He kicked the walker and tried to reach his crossbow, but the undead made it's back to him before he could. Daryl pulled out his knife and stabbed the walker in it's arm and couldn't pull it back out. He punched it a few times, knocking it aside as another walker started making it's way towards him. He picked up his walking stick and brought it down on the walkers skull, finally killing it.

He brought his attention to the other walker that was getting close to him and knew he had to deal with it fast. He started pulling the arrow out of his body without second having second thoughts about it, and ignoring the pain it was giving him. He ripped it out from his body and afterwards struggled to set it in his crossbow. Just as the walker was about lunge towards him, he took the shot and the arrow hit the undead straight in the head killing it.

Daryl let out a groan and set back up, taking care of his wound with sleeves. He let out a small scoff, "Son of a bitch was right."

He walked over to the water to wash the blood off his knife. After that he used to cut the squirrel open before eating some of it. He came over to the walkers and took off their shoelaces before cutting their ears off with his knife. He turned them into a small necklace and looked up at the cliff. He grunted and started to climb once again.

When he was in the halfway of the climb, which hopefully wasn't going to end like the last time, he looked up and saw some birds flying around.

"Please, don't feed the birds." He heard a familiar voice say. He looked up and saw his brother once again who was standing on top of the hill, "What's the matter, Darylina? That all you got in you? Throw away that purse and climb."

Daryl grunted, wrapping his hand around a tree, "I liked it better when you was missing."

Merle chuckled, "Come on,don't be like that. I'm on your side."

The younger Dixon scoffed in response, "Yeah? Since when?"

"Hell, since the day you were born,baby brother. Somebody had to look after your worthless ass." Merle answered.

"You never took care of me. You talk a big game but you was never there." Daryl retorted, "Hell,you ain't here now. Guess some things never change."

Merle smirked, " Well,I'll tell you what-I'm as real as your Chupacabra."

"I know what I saw." Daryl shook his head.

"And I'm sure them shrooms you ate had nothing to do with it, right?" Merle asked.

"You'd best shut the hell up!" Daryl shouted to him.

"Or what? You're gonna come up here and shut my mouth for me?" Merle taunted, leaning down, "Well, come on and do it then,if you think you're man enough. Hey, kick off them damn high heels and climb, son."

Merle laughed as Daryl grunted in irritation, grabbing into another tree and climbing upwards as his brother continued, "You know what? If I were you I'd take a pause for the cause,brother. 'Cause I just don't think you're gonna make it to the top." The older Dixon laughed again and reached his hand out to Daryl who was struggling to hold on a tree, "Come on. Come on, little brother. Grab your friend Rick's hand. Or maybe that juvie's friend of yours hand you've been searching for that little girl with?"

Daryl let out a painful grunt and breathed in as he placed his hand on the ground. His other hand grabbed the tree standing on his right as another painful grunt escaped his mouth. He finally got over the edge, making the climb and quickly shot back to his feet, looking around himself.

"Yeah!" He shouted to no one but himself, "You'd better run!"

* * *

Timothy stared at Duncan for a few seconds before a smile formed on his lips. He lowered his pistol, saying, "Holy shit! This isn't what I was excepting to see today, but this is the kind of suprise I will always welcome with open arms!"

Duncan lowered his bow shorty after Timothy lowered his pistol, a small grin forming on his lips, "You're telling me, man!"

The two of them walked over to each other and slapped hands, with Timothy saying to Duncan shorty after, "I honestly had no idea that I will see you again."

"That makes the two of us." Duncan nodded his head in agreement. He looked over Timothy's shoulder and asked, "What about Chad and Freddie? Are they with you?"

Timothy sighed sadly, "I was about to ask you the same thing, man."

"I have a camp nearby and It's really close." Timothy said, pointing at the small camp behind him. It was just a small tent and small place for a bonfire in front of it, "I heard someone walking here and went to check out who it was. I'm out here by myself so we'll have a chance to talk in private."

The two of them made their way to Timothy's camp and took their seats. Timothy sat behind his tent and in front of a small place made for a bonfire while Duncan sat in front of him.

"What are you doing out here, man?" Timothy asked Duncan after taking his seat in front of him, placing his pistol on his knee.

"I'm looking for someone." Duncan answered, "Have you happen to see a young girl around?"

"Give me her description and I will tell you." Timothy told him to which Duncan gave him a quick description of Sophia. He shook his head, "Sorry. I didn't."

"Dammit." Duncan sighed, "She's been missing for days and I just want to find her, you know. I know what her mother goes through."

"Oh, yeah. That story with your aunt and your cousin." Timothy cringed a bit and bit his lips, making a quick mental note that Duncan was most likely in a group and he was quick to bring it up, "A girl and her mother? Are you in a group?"

"I'm with the guys from Total Drama and a few people we've met on our way." Duncan said, for now deciding to hide the fact from Timothy that they were staying on a farm that was not too far from their position.

"Oh, right. The third season of that reality show you were in was announced. You must have been together when shit started to go down." Timothy stated, "What about that girl of yours? The CIT one? Is she with you?"

"She is." Duncan said, crossing his arms. Him and Courtney's breaking up was a loud case in the media for some reason. They shared a few hugs, and even kissed once in that bus when they were chasing Alejandro, but they didn't got back together, "But we're not together if you haven't heard about it."

"I heard about it. The media couldn't stop talking about it." Timothy nodded his head, "They really must have had no other things to talk about if they talked about two people from a stupid reality show breaking up with each other."

Duncan nodded his head in agreement to Timothy's words about the media having no other things to talk about, before asking, "What about you? Are you with a group, or with someone?"

"Well, you were honest with me about you being in a group, so I'll be honest with you." Timothy said, "I am a part of a group and there's actually a lot of us. Our leader Harlan is a wise and strong guy that keeps us alive."

"It seems like you got lucky." Duncan stated.

"I sure did, pal." Timothy smiled.

Duncan nodded his head to that and stayed silent for a few seconds, his eyes catching the sight of Timothy's pistol, "Your pistol."

"Oh." Timothy touched his pistol and lifted it up from his knee, "Nice one, right? Smith & Wesson 3914. Found it on a guy."

Duncan titled his head a bit, "A guy?"

"Don't worry. He was dead long before I found him." Timothy chuckled and waved his hand at his reaction. He leaned forward a bit to give Duncan a good look at it.

"What happened to him?" Duncan asked.

Timothy shrugged his shoulders, "One of those things bit him and he didn't want to turn, you know the usual scenario."

Duncan titled his head, recalling the tone that Timothy was speaking with him now, but decided to stay silent about it to be sure. When Timothy leaned back to his spot, he could feel how something slided out from his pocket. Duncan saw it too and his eyes caught the sight of a small picture falling on the ground. He reached out for it and picked it up, bringing it closer to himself to take a good look at it.

This picture showed him two teenage girls. There was only one or two years apart between them. What got his attention was the fact that some part of the middle part of the picture was ripped out, as if someone didn't want this person to be a part of this picture anymore and from the parts that were left of the third person he could tell it was a man.

"Who are they?" He asked Timothy, turning his gaze away from the picture.

Timothy rubbed the back of his head. Duncan could easily say that he became more nervous out of the sudden. Timothy tried to hide it, but it was one of his major flaw. He never was a good actor when he was nervous, "...I didn't want you to see this. I was traveling with these three before I came across Harlan and his group. These things got them. We were close and I decided to keep the picture to remember them."

"Then why is their dad ripped out?" Duncan asked Timothy another question.

"I had a small accident in an abandoned building and my bag with all of it's things spilled out was lost in in bricks of a small that recently collapsed. It took me a while to find everything, but I did, but their dad ended up getting ripped out by bricks and he was left barely visible so I decided to left his part behind."

Duncan nodded his head, having seconds thoughts about Timothy's history being true. He handed the picture back to Timothy, saying, "If you say so."

"Thanks for being understanding about it, pal." Timothy gave him a small smile as he hid the picture back in his pocket, "Now about we change the topic and talk about the place where you'll staying?"

"What?" Duncan asked. He didn't mention anything about his group staying somewhere to Timothy.

"C'mon, man. It was obvious for me that you'll staying somewhere since I set my eyes on you. I mean look at me then at yourself." Timothy said. Duncan looked at him, then at himself. He could understand Timothy's point here. He looked much cleaner than him, "And besides, it's a large group you have if you count the other people competing in that reality show, along with the people you have come across over these past months. Maybe even bigger than mine and groups like this need a place to stay. I know that from experience. My group was looking for one or a while now"

"What are you trying to say by this?" Duncan wanted to know, already having one answer in mind.

"You could have showed me where you camp is. I wonder what that is. It must be huge to fit all of the people in your group. Maybe it's a trailer park. We could be growing some dope in one of the trailers like in that documentary like TV show that Freddie kept talking about." Timothy said with a small grin forming on his lips after saying the last part.

Duncan remained silent and Timothy noticed the silence. His expression was blank and Timothy was quick to realize that he was wrong about it being a trailer park.

"Or it can be a farm. I heard that the areas around here were famous for farmers." Timothy mentioned another possible place and got different reaction from Duncan, assuring him that his guess was correct this time, "Farm it is."

"I never said it was a farm." Duncan pointed out.

"Your reaction when I mentioned a farm said otherwise." Timothy stated, "Listen, pal. I know that you may be having some seconds thoughts about this but, at least listen to what I have to say. You have no idea what I had go through out there. What we had to go through. Me and my group, we deserve a good place to live after everything we did, after everything we've seen. How about you take me to that farm of yours and I'll have a little discussion with your group."

He shook his head, "No."

Timothy was taken aback, not excepting to hear this as an answer, "What did you just say?"

"There's already too much of us on this farm." Duncan said, firmly, "You're gonna have to find another place to live for your group."

"Or how about we do something completely opposite? I take you to my group where you'll have a little talk with Harlan." Timothy offered with a smile growing on his lips. Duncan knew what kind of a smile it was. Timothy was always using it when he was trying to pull something off in the juvenile hall, "You don't need to worry about it. I'll personally vouch for you."

Duncan shook his head again, suspecting that going with Timothy to met his group wasn't going to end well for him. The way how Timothy acted when he asked him about that picture wasn't helping either, "Thanks for the offer but I'll stay where I am."

"Are you sure about that? As I recall you already told me that you're staying with the people from that show of yours, right?" Timothy asked him. Duncan remained silent and that was all Timothy needed to get, "You do realize you're not going to last long with them. If they didn't change a lot through all these months, it's just a matter of time before they all will end up dead. That fatso who won the first season if he didn't already became a nice meal for those things, that surfer girl that was making out with her boyfriend for 24/7, or that big guy that cries everytime when someone mentions his mommy or is mean to him? They all will die and bring you down with them."

"I'll take my chances." Duncan answered, crossing his arms, "Timothy. I remember the techniques you were using in the juvenile hall when you were trying to hide something from someone. I know that you're not honest with me when it comes to that picture of these two girls, or you taking me to your leader ending up well for me, or even this pistol you have."

"You will take your chances, you say." Timothy laughed, shaking his head, clearly displeased with Duncan's decision, "You say that you know how I act when I'm trying to hide something. Are you refusing my offer because I killed people and then took their stuff? That my group kills people and does other things? You still don't get it, pal, do you? There's no good people and bad people. This division is long gone. All that's left are people that are doing whatever it takes to survive, and I'm one of them."

"And so I am." Duncan pointed out.

Timothy sighed and shook his head, once again, "That's a shame it turned out the way it did, pal. I was actually glad to see you again."

Before Duncan could ask him what he meant by that, Timothy drew his knife and lunged it towards him, making a small cut on the juvie's cheek. Duncan clenched his teeth and placed his hand on his wounded cheek, stepping away from Timothy. He quickly had to take his attention away from his cheek because Timothy lunged at him again, this time missing because Duncan managed to duck in time.

He glared at Timothy who kept swinging his knife around, with only one intention of wounding him more than just his cheek. He knew he had to do something to strike back. He wasn't going to last long if he just kept dodging Timothy's strikes. He waited for the right moment, and when it finally came he grabbed Timothy's knife wielding arm. Timothy quickly reacted to that and tried to break out from his grasp, but his tries didn't do much because Duncan already knocked his knife off his grasp, the small blade falling on the ground.

It was when Timothy got the control of his arm back. He knew he wasn't going to use his knife anymore in this fight, and that left him with only one option. His pistol. He pulled out his pistol and aimed it straight at the juvie. Duncan quickly moved towards him and grabbed the front of the pistol, moving it away from himself. He made sure the pistol would be pointed at Timothy. Timothy gritted his teeth, starting to push his pistol back towards Duncan, not wanting to be the one receiving the bullet to the had in the end.

The two of them glared at each other, pushing the pistol towards one other as Duncan also tried to break the pistol off Timothy's grasp. After that, knocking Timothy down and leaving him would be the only thing left for him to do here. It unfortunely never happened because an idea of what he should do next popped into Timothy's mind. He let go off his pistol, leaving the pistol in Duncan's hands, but he never got to use it because Timothy headbutted him in the face.

Duncan groaned in pain, stepping backwards and letting go off the pistol which fell on the ground. Timothy quickly reached down and picked it up. Duncan saw it but had no time to react.

Timothy was about to aim it at Duncan, intending to end the fight between them for good, but then...

His and Duncan's eyes widened when a shot echoded right behind them and Timothy gasped in pain. He fell on his knees, his pistol falling off his grasp. Another shot echoded and this time it hit Timothy straight in the face, finishing him off.

Duncan's eyes were refusing to close and he just watched how Timothy was killed by an unknown person and some of his blood stained his clothes. Timothy's now lifeless body collapsed on the ground with a hole in his head.

It was when a familiar voice rang in his ears, "Are you alright, soldier?"

Duncan could feel how his eyes widened in shock when he heard that. He turned around and saw someone everyone, including himself thought was dead. It was Chef Hatchet. He was alive! The co-host of Total Drama has certainly seen better days. Most of his clothes were covered in blood of the walkers and his hat which he wore everywhere, even when he wasn't in the kitchen was gone. He must've lost it.

"What?" Duncan asked, shocked and confused, "We thought you were dead!"

Chef walked over to him, "I came close."

* * *

Dale entered his RV to be greeted by the view of Glenn and Noah sitting. Glenn was staring out fron the window as Noah sat in front of him. The bookworm had his nose in a book, like usual. He found a lot of books in the highway that interested him and it would take him a while to finish all of them. He didn't mind though. It kept him occupied and he didn't had to think about Sophia or what he has seen during the incident with the walker in the well.

"Uh, Dale." Glenn spoke up to the eldery man, "Dale, you think Andrea's on her period?"

Dale shot him a confused look in response as Noah looked up from his book at the asian man and shook his head, "I'm not even gonna ask."

Seeing their reactions, Glenn quickly explained himself, "I'm only asking 'cause it's like all the women are acting really weird. And I read somewhere that when women spend a lot of time together,their cycles line up and they all get super crazy hormonal at the same time."

"I'm gonna advise you to keep that theory to yourself." Dale nodded his head, "Who else is acting weird?"

"Maggie." Glenn answered as Dale and Noah just listened to what he had to say, the latter even taking his eyes off his book for a second, "She started off being mean to me. Then she wanted to have sex with me. And now she's being mean to me again. And I don't even want to know what's going on with Lori."

Noah raised his brow, "What's going on with Lori?"

"I don't know." Glenn shook his head, but Noah wasn't buying it.

Dale let out a small laugh, "All right, let's take this back a step. How do you know that Maggie wanted to have sex with you?" Glenn send him a small grin in response, "Oh, son,you didn't." Dale said as Glenn's smile faded away from the asian's man face, "Did it ever occur to you how her father might feel about this?"

Glenn shrugged his shoulders, "She's 22."

"And he is our host." Dale pointed out.

"He doesn't know." Glenn told him.

"And let's hope it will stay that way." Noah said, as Glenn and Dale looked at him. The bookworm set his book on the table and crossed his arms, clearly not liking what Glenn just told him and Dale, "Great job, Glenn. Now we may get kicked out from this place because you couldn't keep your pants up."

"What were you thinking Glenn?" Dale asked the asian man, not liking this as much as Noah.

"I was thinking that I might be dead tomorrow." Glenn said as he stood up and left the RV. Dale and Noah watched him leave and shared a quick look with each other.

As Glenn walked through the camp, Andrea sat on top of the RV, scanning the area around the farm for any possible walkers and spotted Daryl walking out from the forest, but from the distance Daryl's body looked like a walker.

"Walkers!" She cried out to the group.

Rick heard this and quickly ran over to her, spotting Daryl as well, "Just one?"

"I got this!" Tyler exclaimed, picking up his baseball bat and breaking himself into run towards Daryl.

"Right behind you, kid!" Shane said, picking up a pickaxe.

Rick held up his hand, "Shane, Tyler hold up. Hershel wants to deal with walkers."

"What for, man?" Shane asked him.

"We got it covered." Tyler added.

Shane and Tyler didn't listen to what RIck had to say and proceeded to move towards Daryl, still thinking that he was a walker. Rick groaned and grabbed his Python from the RV before taking off with them. T-Dog picked up his baseball bat, so did Glenn, Izzy took out her hunting knife and Alejandro readied his tomahawk and took off after them.

Andrea lifted up a rifle and looked through the scope, "I think I can hit him."

Dale shook his head as Andrea laid down on the roof, "Andrea don't."

"Back of, Dale." Andrea retorted.

Gwen walked over to the RV along with Leshawna and took a good look at the "walker" walking towards the farm. At first she thought it was a regular walker until she saw something hanging behind it's back. It was a crossbow and she knew only person that used one.

She quickly voiced her thoughts, "Wait a second. Is that?"

Leshawna spotted it as well and looked up, "Don't do it, sugar!"

"I got this, guys. Don't worry." Andrea assured, readying herself ot take a shot.

Rick, Shane, T-Dog, Glenn, Tyler, Izzy and Alejandro made their way to Daryl, the first thing the sheriff deputy did was aiming his Python at him. Izzy titled her head when she recognized who it was, "Daryl?"

Daryl glared at Rick, "That's the third time you've pointed that thing at my head. You gonna pull the trigger or what?"

Rick and the others lowered their weapons only for Daryl to get shot in the head by Andrea. Rick quickly yelled out to her, "No! No!"

Shane and Alejandro knelt down in front of Daryl to see that the bullet grazed his temple. They lifted him up and wrapped his arms around their shoulders and started to take him towards the farm as everyone started gathering around them.

"Oh my god?" Andrea said, running over to them with Dale and the others, "Is he dead?"

"Your bullet just grazed him." Izzy explained, as Andrea let out a relieved sigh. She didn't kill Daryl.

"What happened to him out there?" Harold asked after seeing the state Daryl was in.

"And where's Duncan?" Courtney asked as the juvie was nowhere to be seen, "They left together."

"Uh, guys." Cody said, pointing at Daryl's necklace, creeped out by it, "Is he wearing ears?"

Rick looked at Daryl's necklace and quickly took it off before placing it in his pocket, "Let's keep that to ourselves."

"Uh, guys." T-Dog said, making everyone turn back to him. He held up Sophia's doll that Daryl found for everyone to see, "Isn't this Sophia's?"

* * *

Chef and Duncan walked together towards the farm for a while now and since they encountered Timothy who attempted to kill Duncan for simply not willing to take him for not taking him to the farm, despise knowing him before the outbreak, and before Duncan even signed up for Total Drama. They just walked towards the farm in complete silence which lasted several minutes.

Chef finally broke the silence between them by asking a simple question, "Did you know him?"

Duncan turned away from Timothy's pistol which he took with him to look at Chef before nodding his head, "Yeah, I knew him. We met each other in the juvenile hall before I signed for that show of yours. He was actually the first guy I met after coming there and after that we met Chad and Freddie and just stick together. Remember the tape I send when I auditioned for your show? When I was breaking out of the juvenile hall?"

Chef nodded his head, "I do. This was actually the reason why Chris picked you in the first place."

"I was supposed to be breaking out with them, but they got caught on their way to me. That's why I got spotted so quickly. The four planned everything together while being there, and did our best to stay away from this one guy, but we weren't the only ones. Everyone stayed away from him."

"What was his name?" Chef asked.

"Mal." Duncan answered, "Everyone feared this guy. He was just something else."

Chef nodded his head in understanding. The two of them were met with silence again, which lasted less than the previous one, only a minute or two.

It was Chef once again who broke it, "It wasn't the first time when I had to kill someone."

Duncan raised his brow, not excepting to hear this from him, "What?"

"I was in the army, remember?" He asked him to which Duncan gave him a silent nod in response, "I remember the first time when I had to kill someone. It stays with you forever. For the rest of the day I couldn't even look at my rifle without thinking about the guy I had to shot. I thought I wasn't going to able to live with myself, even though I did this to save my fellow soldier from death. You know what happened the day after? I woke up and felt nothing."

Duncan bit his lips after hearing Chef say it to him, not really knowing how to respond to this. He and the other contestants were aware of Chef's past in the army, but none of them knew that he actually had to kill someone during his service.

He decided to change the subject by asking, "How did you survived anyway? Shane told us that they got you."

"I wouldn't blame him for thinking like that." Chef said, Duncan not mentioning Otis suprising him a bit, "There was too many of them and I was left all alone in the building with them."

"How did you made it out there alive?" Duncan asked.

"I got lucky, really lucky. I shot a few of them down with my shotgun before throwing it at them. I ran into one of the rooms and remained hidden in there for the rest of the night with my handgun in ready. A few hours later, when the sun was visible on the horizon, I made sure that there wasn't any of them left in the hallway, picked up my shotgun and left that place as fast as I could." Chef explained, before asking, "What about Carl? Did that boy survived?"

"He did." Duncan nodded his head in confirmation.

"Good." Chef smiled, relieved that Carl survived, "Our tries didn't go to waste. Otis..."

Duncan cut him off, "Otis didn't made it. He stayed behind to keep the walkers away from Shane who wounded his ankle. When he turned back, those things were all over Otis."

Chef's smile faded from his face and sighed. He hoped that Shane and Otis would both make it out of there alive, "At least he made it right, just like he wanted to."

Duncan nodded his head before letting out a bittersweet chuckle after realizing something, "Funny. This is probably the friendliest talk we had in all the time we knew each other."

Chef put his hand on Duncan's shoulder, "Duncan. We may have had a rocky past, but in this new world, we all need to watch each others back, despise our differences in the past."

* * *

The rest of the walk towards the farm went mostly in silence, Chef and Duncan eventually traded a word with each other on their way back to the group. When they arrived at the farm, everyone's attention was brought to the juvie. He was quickly informed that there was an accident with Daryl and they were about to send a search party for him, it then turned into questions about the cut on his cheek, but everyone's attention was shifted when they noticed Chef standing behind him.

Just like Duncan, everyone was in state of complete shock after setting their eyes on Chef. Rick and Lori were the first one who made their way towards the co-host of Total Drama who they thought died to save their son. They gave him a quick hug at the same time, saying their thanks for saving their son, and soon enough everyone greeted Chef Hatchet back in their group. He even got a tearful hug from Chris who was happy and relieved that his fellow host of Total Drama was alive after all.

"I honestly have no idea how you people made it this far." Hershel said, walking into his house with Duncan to treat the cut on the juvie's cheek as the group proceeded to greet Chef back into their group.

"We were lucky, I guess." Duncan shrugged his shoulders as the eldery farmer led him into a room where Daryl was already laying on the bed.

Daryl turned to look at them and quickly spotted the cut on Duncan's cheek, "What the hell happened to you?"

"Had a little accident." Duncan said as he sat down next to him while Hershel started preparing everything to take care of the cut on the juvie's cheek, "And what the happened to you?"

Hershel walked over to the juvie, already having prepared everything he needed to treat the juvie's wound, "You'll talk after I'll take care of this."

"Sure thing, old man." Duncan nodded his head.

Most of the group had already walked back into the house, leaving Chef alone with only one person. This was person was Shane.

He smiled at Chef, "I know that you already heard it from pretty much most of the people here, but it's good to see you."

"It's good to see that you made it back here as well, soldier." Chef smiled back.

"Listen, man. I thought you were dead. I thought that they got you in that building. If I knew that you were still alive, we would have send a search party for you." Shane told him, shaking his head a bit.

"Don't worry about it." Chef said, "To be honest I would thought that I am dead too. What matters is that we saved Carl."

Shane smiled and nodded his head, and was a bit relieved that Chef wasn't suspecting that he killed Otis. He placed his hand on Chef's shoulder, "You should get a bath and some new clothes. We were about to eat something together, but we may wait a bit longer. We can celebrate your return by that."

"A bath and some new clothes? Sounds good to me." Chef said, walking up the stairs leading into a house with Shane, "But I'm going to miss my hat, though. I lost it when I was getting the hell out of that place."

"And there's one more thing that you may like." Shane said, "I talked with Chris and he changed his mind about being taught how to fire a gun."

"That's good." Chef smiled, "Pretty boy needs to know how to defend himself if he wants to survive. Have you found a place where we'll teach the group, or are you still looking?"

"Already found one. You'll like it. It's a good spot." Shane said, walking into the house with Shane where Maggie was already waiting for them with a set of fresh clothes for Chef.

"Hey." She said as Chef looked at her, "I got you some new clothes. They may not fit you because they were Otis' and If you were wondering the bathroom is upstairs."

Chef nodded his head and took the clothes from her. Maggie and Shane walked into the room where everyone were already sitting around the table as Chef walked up the stairs and headed into the bathroom to clean himself up and change his bloodied clothes into a completely clean ones.

* * *

Chef returned to the group several minutes later, cleaned out from all the walker blood and wearing completely new clothes that made him look like a farmer. Chris even made a joking comment that he never thought that he'll see Chef wearing clothes like these. Chef just shrugged it off and took his seat next to his fellow host and everyone dug into their food.

The dinner was extremely awkward, despise DJ even making the sandwiches that the contestants loved so much. The other people from their group had to admit. They weren't lying. DJ's sandwiches were delicious but it didn't change the fact that the dinner was awkward for everyone. Hershel was giving everyone cold shoulder and Shane and Rick were exchanging angry look with each other.

"How's Carl?" Chef asked, breaking the silence.

"He's still resting, but he's fine." Lori said, offering him a quick smile.

"Does anybody know how to play guitar? " Glenn asked, trying to break the awkward silence, "Dale found a cool one. Somebody's got to know how to play."

"Otis did." Patricia said, sadly.

"Yes,and he was very good too." Hershel added.

"Trent did too." Gwen added.

Hershel turned to look at her, "Trent?"

"A friend of ours." Leshawna explained.

Gwen sighed sadly, "We haven't seen him since this begun. I hope he's alright whenever he is. Same thing with Geoff, Katie, Sadie, Justin, Beth and Eva."

"Did you tried to look for them?" Hershel asked the goth girl another question.

"I wish we did." Bridgette sighed, lowering her eyes on the locket that Geoff gave her, "Geoff is my boyfriend, and I really miss him."

Glenn felt someone touch his hand, which was quickly followed by the feeling of someone slipping a piece of paper into his hand. He looked down and saw the note from Maggie that said " _Tonight. Where?_ ". He grinned and quickly wrote response before handing it back to her. Maggie looked around and saw her dad watching her so she didn't took a look at what Glenn wrote.

Daryl and Duncan remained in the room where Hershel patched their wounds when they heard someone knock on the doors. They turned to the doors and saw Carol and Courtney entering the room, each holding a plate of food for them.

"How are you feeling?" Carol asked them.

"Better than him for sure." Duncan said, touching his cheek.

"We brought you some dinner." Courtney said, setting her plate in front of Duncan.

"You must be starving, both of you." Carol added, setting her plate in front of Daryl, "There's something both of you need to know. You did more for my little girl today than her own daddy ever did in his whole life."

"We didn't do anything Rick or Shane wouldn't have done." Daryl said to which Duncan nodded his head in agreement.

"I know." Carol smiled at Daryl and Duncan while Courtney just stood in the back, watching everything happen, "You're every bit as good as them. Every bit."

Carol send them one last smile before walking out from the room, leaving Duncan and Daryl alone with Courtney, shutting the doors behind her.

"You're not going with her?" Duncan asked the CIT.

"There's something I want to know, Duncan and I think you may already know what it is." Courtney said, taking a seat next to him, "Why do you want to find Sophia so much?"

Duncan sighed, knowing that he'd have to tell this story sooner or later, "I had a younger cousin that got lost in the forest one day. It was a few months before they locked me up in the juvie. We've been looking for him a few days, until we finally found him. He looked like a shadow of his former self. I and my parents were staying with my aunt and my other cousin, his older brother and the one who got himself a motorcycle at the time. I was through what my aunt was going through at that time, and I think I know what Carol goes through now, especially with the walkers around."

Daryl and Courtney stared at him for a few moments, the latter thinking what she should say next to him after hearing his reason why he wants to find Sophia so much.

"Duncan." Courtney placed her hand on his shoulder, "You could have told us. I'm sure that many would go with you if you did."

Duncan just offered her a silent nod in response as Courtney stood up and walked over to the exit, offering him a smile, "Enjoy food, both of you. Oh, and Duncan, DJ made his sandwiches."

She exited the room, leaving Daryl and Duncan with each other. The two of them dug into their food shorty food. The juvie could feel smile forming on his lips, after tasting DJ's sandwiches for the first time in months. He turned to look at Daryl who took the first bite of his sandwich and from his reaction, the juvie could see that the younger enjoyed it.

As everyone began to leave, the group making their way back their camp, Maggie pulled out the note and opened it. Much to her horror, it said " _Ever done it in a hayloft?_ "

She quickly ran out from the house, hoping to catch him before he'll make it to the barn as Glenn walked over to it with a few blankets. He walked around the barn and eyed it in confusion after noticing that it's doors were locked and all windows were blocked up. He climbed up the ladder to the second floor of the barn and entered it. As he walked forward, he covered his nose in disgust.

He pulled out his flashlight and shined it around to see at least a dozen of walkers walking around on the first floor. His eyes widened as they looked up at him and began to growl.

He turned away from them in shock and saw Maggie looking at him fearfully, "You weren't suppose to see that."

* * *

**I know that many of you was probably excepting this but Chef's alive!**

**This chapter turned out to be way longer than I excepted...**

**A question for you: Timothy's group. Who do you think these guys are?**


	12. Secrets

Glenn stood at the campsite, looking at the barn hrough his binoculars when he heard someone walking over to him, but he simply ignored it and continued to observe the barn.

Maggie's voice whispered out to him, "Could you be more obvious?" Glenn sighed and lowered the binoculars and looked at Maggie who placed a basket of fruit in front of him, "Here, enjoy."

Glenn looked down at the basket in front of him for a second before turning to look at Maggie, "Are you trying to buy my silence with fruit?"

"Of course not." Maggie shook her head, "There's also jerky."

"Will you please tell me why your dad has a secret barn full of walkers? It's creepy." Glenn asked her but Maggie quickly told him to shush, but he ignored it and asked "You know that, right?"

Maggie shushed him for the second time, "Just trust me on this, okay?"

"But I suck at lying. I can't even play poker. It's too much like lying." Glenn told her.

"You have to keep this to yourself. You have to. Please." Maggie said, almost begging him at this point.

"Morning, guys!" The familiar voice which belonged to Owen sounded in Glenn's and Maggie's ears, making them turn around to see the overweighted teenager approaching them. Owen knelt down in front of the basket and took a quick peek what was inside. A grin formed on his lips when he pulled out a jerky, shouting, "GREAT HEAVENLY GASPY! A JERKY!"

He instantly shoved the jerky into his mouth and ate it, without even bitting into it Maggie's eyes widened after seeing how Owen just ate some jerky with only one bite as Glenn just shrugged it off, already having a chance to see how fast Owen could eat, both of them doing their best to hide that they just discussed the fact that there were walkers in the barn. They parted ways shorty after. Maggie went back into the house while Glenn and Owen took the basket to give everyone in their group something to eat.

Daryl was stuck in his tent, lazily poking the tip of his arrow through the screen of his tent when he heard someone coming in. He turned to that person and saw Andrea, giving him a small smile, "Hey." She crouched down in front of the younger Dixon, giving him a book, "This is not that great,but..."

Daryl took the book from her and flipped through it, "What? No pictures?"

"I'm so sorry." Andrea apologized to him for what happened a day before, "I feel like shit."

"Yeah, you and me both." Daryl said as he sat up a little to adjust his pillow.

"I don't expect you to forgive me, but if there's anything I can do..." Andrea said.

Daryl just shook his head in response, "You were trying to protect the group. We're good." Andrea gave him a little smile and got up, heading towards the exit from the tent, "But hey, shoot me again,and you'd best pray I'm dead."

Andrea just let out small chuckle before walking off, moving past Duncan who sat in front of a tent. Courtney, Izzy, Leshawna, DJ and Gwen were gathered around him.

"How is your wound treating you?" DJ asked as he turned to look at Duncan.

Duncan touched his cheek and shrugged his shoulders, "I'm trying to forget that I have it."

"Is it working?" DJ asked him another question.

"I think you already know the answer." Duncan said as he pulled out Timothy's Smith & Wesson, which now belonged to him. He and Chef decided to hide how what really happened yesterday from the group, at least for now until they'll find Sophia, "But at least it was worth getting this pistol from that dead walker."

"And you may end up getting an awesome scar. " Izzy added as she moved a bit of her hair away, revealing a small bit marks on her head to the rest, "Like mine."

Gwen gestured towards Izzy's scar on her head, "Ain't that from the snake that bit you when we were treasure hunting in the first season?"

Izzy nodded her head in confirmation, "That's the one."

"Hey, guys!" The voice which belonged to Owen rang in their ears as everyone turned to see him approaching him, holding a basket. Glenn took his portion out of it and left Owen with giving some food to the people from the group, telling Owen that he needs to talk with someone, "I got some food for you!"

Izzy stood up from her spot and walked over to Owen, taking a peach out of the basket before offering her boyfriend a quick kiss on his cheek, "Thanks Owen!"

Owen smiled at her as everyone came over to him and took out something from the basket. The blond haired teenager looked at Duncan who sat down back in his spot, "How are you doing, Duncan? After what happened yesterday?"

"I'm fine, Owen." Duncan said, waving it off before taking a bite of his jerky, "I got off easy compared to Daryl. In a day or two we should be able to head out looking for Sophia again."

"I'll go with you." Courtney said.

"You can count me in too, sugar." Leshawna said, sincerely, with DJ and Gwen nodding their heads in agreement. Courtney told them the real reason why Duncan wants to find Sophia so much after the dinner and most of them agreed to help to find her in any way they could.

Duncan turned to look at Harold, "What do you want, Doris?"

Harold simply ignored the way how Duncan called him and said, "We need to talk, in private."

"About what?" Duncan raised his brow.

"It's really important." Harold answered as Izzy, Owen, Gwen, Leshawna, DJ and Courtney already knew that he meant by that, "I already told everyone else about it, but I didn't had ocassion to tell you."

Duncan shrugged his shoulders and stood up, taking a bite of his jerky, "This better be as important as you say it is."

"It is." Harold confirmed with a nod of his head, turning to walk away, "Otherwise, I wouldn't tell you about it."

The rest watched how Harold and Duncan walked away from them, the former intending to tell the latter about what was going on with Tyler. Owen went out to give some food to everyone else in the camp shorty after and Izzy decided to go with him.

Glenn stopped in front of a bonfire when he had found the person he was looking for. He had to have a word with Lori about something. He approached her, asking , "What did Rick say?" Lori simply stared at him for a few seconds, before kneeling down in front of the bonfire, not answering to his question, "You didn't tell him? But you have to. You're pregnant. You need vitamins,medicine,a nice pillow." He pulled out the food he took for himself from the basket, before leaving Owen with the job of giving everyone in their camp something to eat, and held it out to Lori, "Here. You can have my share."

Lori shook her head and pulled the food away, "I don't want your food, okay? Eat."

"You need to eat. You're too skinny. And if you're not gonna let Rick take care of you,then someone has to." Glenn said as Lori just kept working around the bonfire, "Lori, you have a medical condition. I'll make another run into town. Just tell me what you need."

"I need you to be quiet about this." Lori said, standing up, "All right? Please."

Just then they heard a whistle and turned around to see Owen and Izzy walking over to Carol's cherokee where Shane, Rick, Chef, Chris and Jimmy were standing. As they approached them, Rick was saying, "...The creek flows south,past that farmhouse Daryl found. Maybe Sophia dropped the doll there,the current brought it downstream"

Shane rubbed his head and pointed at one spot on the map. "So what,you think she took this road here?

Chef moved his finger along the possible road that Sophia could take on the map. Rick offered him to take a rest after the tough few days that Chef had but he declined it, saying that he'll rest after they'll find Sophia, "Then she probably went north."

"What's up that way?" Chris asked Jimmy.

Jimmy thought for a moment before replying, "A housing development. It went in maybe 10 years ago."

Rick turned to look at Shane, "Take a run up th ere after gun practice. I'll hold down the fort here, but take backup. After what went down with Daryl and Duncan,I don't want anyone going out alone. We stay in pairs."

"I'll take suggestions on a partner?" Shane asked him as Owen and Izzy walked over to them. Owen held out the basket to him, Chris, Chef, Rick and Jimmy and they all reached into the basket and took out an apple.

"Thanks." Rick thanked them before turning back to Shane, "See how they do on the range, then take your pick."

"Guys." Shane said as Izzy and Owen looked at him, "Find Glenn and grab my binoculars from him."

"Will do." Izzy nodded her head in understanding before walking away with Owen.

Beth and Patricia approached the group, the former asking, "We'd like to join you for gun training today."

Chef shook his head, "Sorry, girl, but Rick told me that we can't involve any of you in what we do without your fathers okay."

"He doesn't like it, but he consented." Beth explained.

"Otis was the only one who knew guns. Now that he's gone,we gotta learn to protect ourselves. Her father saw the sense in that." Patricia added.

Rick eyed them for a second, "No offence, but I'll ask Hershel myself."

Shane turned away and saw Carl leaning against the RV. A knife was in his hand, lazily sharpening a stick. What got his attention about Rick' son was the fact that there was something sticking out of his shirt. He walked away from Rick and the rest and walked over to Carl, "Nice lid, man. What's going on?"

Carl looked up at him, setting his stick aside "I want to learn to shoot too. Can you teach me?"

Shane chuckled, "Well, man, that's-that's up to your parents."

"Can you talk to them? They'll listen to you?" Carl asked, in a very hopeful tone.

"We'll see. Okay." Shane let out another chuckle. Carl gave him a small nod and started to walk away but stopped when Shane said, firmly "Hey. Let me see what you've got there."

Carl stared at him, unmoving for a second before slowly lifting up his shirt, revealing a small revolver stuck in his belt to Shane. Shane frowned, disappointed in him and tossed his apple away.

* * *

Minutes later, Carl was sitting on a log as Lori walked over to him. She took the revolver from and checked it. She became even more angry than she already was after seeing that it was fully loaded.

She made her way to Rick, Chef, Chris, Shane and Dale, clearly displeased by this fact, "How the hell did this happen?"

"Well, It's my fault. I let him into the RV." Dale replied, "He said he wanted a walkie,that you sent him for one."

"So on top of everything else, he lied. " Lori said, before taking a deep breath. She turned to look at her husband, "What was he thinking?"

"He wants to learn how to shoot." Shane answered as everyone turned to look at him, "He asked me to teach him."

"I know that this is none of my business." Chef said, glancing at Lori and Rick, "But I think you should let him. He needs to know how to defend himself."

"Are you joking?" Lori asked Chef, "What has just happened here just proved that he is not ready for it."

Chef crossed his arms, "Listen, I'm not the fan of teaching kids how to shot, especially as young as Carl, but we need to consider some things here. The new world we live in requires everyone to know how to shot, despise this persons age. There still are some kids that don't want to learn how to shot after what happened to Daryl and Duncan but I'm still taking them to the shooting range, because I care about their safety and I don't want them to die."

Shane nodded his head, "It's none of my business either, but I'm happy to do it. It's your call."

Rick turned to his wife and let out a sigh. She instantly realized what he was going to do, "Oh,don't make me out to be the unreasonable one here. Rick?"

"I know. I have my concerns too, but Chef is right." Rick said.

"There's no but. He was just shot." Lori exclaimed, "He's just back on his feet and he wants a gun?"

"Better than him being afraid of 'em." Rick argued, "There are guns in camp for a reason. He should learn to handle them safely."

Lori shook her head, " I don't want my kid walking around with a gun."

"But how can you defend that?" Rick wanted to know, "You can't let him go around without protection."

"He is as safe as he'll ever be right now." Lori said as Rick just nodded, clearly becoming annoyed by his wife, which she didn't fail to notice, "Look,everything you're saying makes perfect sense. It feels wrong. I mean I didn't feel good about him following you out into the woods. And I wish I'd said something. I should've gone with my gut."

"He's growing up, thank god." Rick said, sternly, "We've got to start treating him more like an adult."

"Then he needs to act like one." Lori retorted, "He's not mature enough to handle a gun."

Carl quickly got up from the log after hearing his mom's words, earning everyone's attention, "I'm not gonna play with it,mom. It's not a toy. I'm sorry I disappointed you, but I want to look for Sophia and I want to defend our camp. I can't do that without a gun."

Rick turned back to his wife, "Shane and Chef are the best instructors here and I've seen Shane teach kids younger than Carl."

Lori stared at Rick for a moment before letting out a breath. She walked over to her son and grabbed his chin, making him look at her, "ou will take this seriously and you will behave responsibly. And if I hear from anyone in this camp that you're not living up to our expectations..."

"They won't let you down." Rick said, supporting Carl.

Carl nodded his head in agreement, "Yeah."

* * *

Everyone were getting ready to go on the shooting range where Shane and Chef were going to teach them how to fire a gun. There were some people who were looking forward to being teached how to shoot like Chris, who was not a fan of this idea a few days ago, but now, he knew he had to now how to defend himself if he wants to survive against walkers.

There were also a few people who still weren't that fond of the idea and Noah was one of them. He didn't want to go but Chef told him to go anyway telling him that it was for his own safety. The bookworm was leaning against the wall, observing Heather, DJ and Bridgette who ready getting ready to go an who just like him weren't that fond of this idea.

"Hey, Noah." He turned to the source of this voice and saw Glenn and Dale approaching him, "You came."

"And I still don't know why you wanted me to come here." Noah told him.

"Well. You already know about me and Maggie and I figured out that it would be good..." Glenn was interrupted by Noah.

The bookworm cut him off, "If you're looking for any relationship ideas from me, then you came to the wrong person."

Glenn blushed slightly and shook his head so quickly that it made Noah wonder how he didn't broke his own neck, "No. That's not it."

"What is it, then?" Noah raised his brow.

Glenn exhaled deeply before saying, "Well, as I said, you already know about me and Maggie, and Dale here is old... You're, you know things. So...what if somebody told you something that somebody else should know-?"

"Glenn, stop being dramatic." Dale said, interrupting him, "Spit it out."

"There's-there's walkers in the barn and Lori's pregnant." Glenn stammered out as Dale and Noah only looked at him in shock and complete silence.

"What?" Noah asked, being the first one to break the silence. He was about to say more but was cut off when Shane approached them and gave him a pat on his shoulder.

"You're ready to go?" He asked him.

"Yeah." Noah said, giving him a quick nod of his head, still shocked by what Glenn just told him and Dale.

"Good." Shane said, "We're heading out in a moment."

Noah waited for Shane to walk away from them before saying to Glenn, "We're gonna have to have a talk with Hershel about the barn, because there is not way that we're sleeping nearby a place that is filled with the walkers for more days, especially after what happened in our camp in Atlanta."

* * *

An hour later the group had arrived at the shooting range that Shane found. Chef had to agree with him. This place was perfect. They set up dozens of bottles and cans on the fence and everyone that came here to train stood in front of it, pistols in their hands as they tried to shot the bottles down. Chef, Rick, Shane, Duncan, Harold and Izzy who already knew how to shoot stood in the back and were giving everyone some tips how to improve their shooting skills, and checking for issues.

T-Dog quickly spotted one issue with Jimmy. He was holding his pistol sideways, as if he was trying to look like a gangster and T-Dog was quick to correct him, "Hey, come on, man. Don't give me that gangsta shit."

Jimmy gave him a nervous nod before aiming his pistol at the bottle, this time properly and fired. The bullet hit the bottle which bursted into pieces as Jimmy smiled. T-Dog smiled back and gave him a quick pat on his back.

Chef stood behind Chris and observed how his fellow host of Total Drama just shot a bottle which bursted into hundreds of pieces. Chris had a few troubles when the training started, missing every shot, but after some tips from Chef and Shane, the host of Total Drama started improving.

"Good job, pretty boy." Chef said, giving Chris a pat on his shoulder, "You're improving quickly."

"That why I came here in the first place, didn't I?" Chris asked him, turning his gaze away from the fence.

"How about we'll check how much you've learned so far?" Chef asked as Chris send him a confused look. Chef pointed at the two bottles on the fence which stood next to each other, "See those two bottles." When Chris nodded his head, he explained, "Try to shot them down as soon as you can."

Chris nodded his head in understanding and aimed his Glock at the bottles. His pistol fired and the first bottle was taken out, which was followed by another bottle bursting into pieces shorty after.

"Good shots." Chef smiled and gave Chris another pat on his shoulder, "We'll make a soldier out of you."

Duncan had just finished giving some tips to Courtney who voiced her gratefulness to which he simply nodded his head. He started moving along his fellow contestants, passing by Izzy who was giving some tips to Owen, which was followed by him walking past Alejandro, Heather, Cody, Sierra, Noah and Bridgette, and Ezekiel who much to everyone's else suprise, seemed to be getting the hang of out rather quickly, being the first one to shot a bottle.

When Rick asked Ezekiel how he was getting the hang of it so quickly, the homeschooled teenager just shrugged it off and said, "Eh, my dad gave me a few lessons back on my farm. I'm not an expert, but now I can improve."

The juvie eventually reached DJ who didn't even had his gun aimed at anty of the bottles and cans on the fence, as if he was thinking about something,

"What's wrong, man?" He asked him, placing his hand on his shoulder.

DJ looked down at him, "I'm just thinking, man. I don't know if my Momma would want me to learn how to fire a gun."

Duncan sighed. He should have excepted that DJ was thinking about his Momma. He knew how DJ was close with his mother. After all, his mom was the reason whyhe kicked himself out in Total Drama Action, to make her proud. In the first days of all of this they found DJ crying several times, clearly worried about his beloved mother, "DJ, If you want to find your Momma, then you'll have to know how to survive long enough if you want to reach this day, and I and Izzy had to go through Shane's and Chef's training before we started going out hunting with Daryl and, then you have to go through it too."

DJ sighed and nodded his head in agreement, "You're right."

He finally aimed his pistol at the first bottle that appeared in his view and fired, missing the shoot. Duncan stayed by his side for a few more minutes and gave him some useful tips.

Leshawna cursed mentally when she missed another shot. Harold spotted this and walker over to her, asking, "What's wrong?"

"How does it look, sugar?" Leshawna turned to look at him, "I can't shot a single bottle."

"Because you're standing wrong." Harold said, coming closer to her. He started correcting her position and Leshawna was about ask him what he was doing, but stopped herself from doing so when Harold grabbed her arms and moved them towards her next target, "Now try."

He didn't had to wait long. Leshawna fired her pistol and bottle bursted into pieces. Harold let go off her arms as she smiled, "I got it!"

"Good job." Harold smiled back, "Now try to shot another one with the position I put in."

Leshawna nodded her head, before aiming her pistol at the can, making sure to stand in the way that Harold told her to, "Your numerous talents are finally paying off."

Shane walked over to Andrea and Tyler, "Don't be discouraged, both of you. You'll hit the target eventually."

"Who says we didn't hit our target?" Andrea asked him, to which Tyler nodded his head in agreement.

Shane looked through his binoculars and looked at the sight that was saying "No Trespassing.". He quickly noticed that there were a lot of bullet holes between the letters, made by Andrea and Tyler. He lowered his binoculars, showing a hint of suprise and looked Rick who narrowed his eyes.

"Try this one. It's heavy." He said to Andrea, handing her another pistol. She took the pistol from him and aimed it at the can, "You get better balance, twice the rounds."

Andrea breathed in before pressing the trigger. The pistol fired, letting out a loud bang and the can fell from the fence. She turned back to Shane, giving him a smirk as he gestured towards Tyler, "Now give it to Tyler."

Tyler held his hand out to Andrea who handed him the pistol. He aimed it at the bottle, and let out a short breath before firing. The bottle bursted into hundreds of small pieces just a second later. He turned to Andrea with a small smile forming on his lips to which she smiled back.

Shane grinned, "I'd say they got the hang of it."

"I'd say they're ready for the advanced class." Rick said, walking over to Andrea and Tyler, stopping in front of them, "It might be worth your while after the rest of us head back to camp."

Andrea nodded her head, 'Sure, why not."

"I'm in." Tyler agreed shorty after.

* * *

Back on the farm, Dale made his way to the stables to have the needed conversation with Hershel about what Glenn recently told him and Noah. The teenager surely would go with him if he didn't went with the others to the shooting range. He saw Hershel brushing the horse which Dale quickly recognized as Nelly, the horse that almost killed Daryl the day before.

"Nervous Nelly?" He asked, approaching Hershel and Nelly, "She find her way home?"

"Found her in her stall this morning." Hershel explained, patting Nelly as Dale picked up some hay before feeding Nelly with it.

"I love your fields." Dale said to him, bringing up the topic of he barn, "Took a long walk this morning. I ended up by the barn. I heard the moans."

Hershel let out a small sigh, "That's unfortunate."

"I'm sure you have your reasons for keeping this a secret." Dale said, trying to defuse the tension.

"I saw the broadcasts before they stopped,saw the irrational fear, the atrocities, like the incident at my well." Hershel said, continuing to work on Nelly.

"We put down a walker." Dale answered, confused.

"You killed a person." Hershel stated, firmly.

"Well, if you watched the same broadcasts I did,you saw walkers attack,kill. They're dangerous." Dale replied.

"A paranoid schizophrenic is dangerous too." Hershel pointed out, "We don't shoot sick people."

"With all due respect, you are cut off from the outside world here." Dale began, "But I've see people that I cared about die and come back,and they're not people."

"My wife and stepson are in that barn." Hershel explained, a slight crack in his voice, "They're people."

Dale's eyes widened at the realization who was in the barn, "I'm sorry. Let me help. I'll speak to Rick. He's a good man. We can make the barn more secure, keep everybody safe."

Hershel shook his head, disagreeing with Dale's compromise to this situation, "The barn is secure. Keep this to yourself if you want to help. Rick is a man of conscience,but are you so sure about everyone in you group?"

Dale remained silent and lowered his head. Hershel was right what would Shane do if he heard about this. He slowly turned to the exit from the stable and walked out of it.

Not that long after that, the group had returned from the farm, except for Shane, Tyler, and Andrea who were going to head to advanced training.

Lori walked over to Hershel and greeted him, "Afternoon."

"I take it your boy did well." Hershel said, giving Lori a warm smile and gesturing towards Carl.

"Not bad, actually." Lori nodded her head.

"Be grateful you don't have a daughter." Hershel laughed, "If only things were as simple as wanting to shoot."

Lori laughed as well and took a step forward, "Carl's getting that chance, thanks to you. And I'm eternally grateful for what you did and your hospitality. We'll earn our keep."

"I appreciate that, but with Carl getting better, I imagine you'll be moving on soon-Fort Benning, I hear." Hershel said as Lori's expression quickly turned into a very worried one.

* * *

Tyler and Andrea were out in the fields with Shane who was going to give him a more advanced training. This was training was supposed to teach them how to shot down a walker while moving around and Tyler and Andrea had to admit it to themselves. It was a lot harder than they thought it would be. Their target was tree branch was tied into a tree and was swinging back and forth.

"Dammit." Tyler cursed to himself as he missed another shot.

Shane walked over to the branch and checked it, checking for any holes, "Still a virgin."

"The target's too small." Andrea tried to come up with an excuse for them, as Tyler only nodded his head in agreement.

"Come on, that's crap, both of you." Shane told them, "Half an hour ago I both saw you nail a bull's eye at 25' feet."

"It wasn't moving." Andrea pointed out.

"And I can just use my baseball bat for a moving target if I won't able to shot it." Tyler added.

Shane laughed at Tyler's words, "And what would happen if there more of them than just one, kid? Focus and reload, go again."

He threw the branch forward and it began swinging back and forth again as Tyler and Andrea aimed their pistols at it, before firing, missing their shots, "Come on, guys. You've got walkers all around you. They're the woods. They're in the RV. You're gonna need more than a damn screwdriver or a baseball bat."

Andrea and Tyler remained silent as Shane continued, " You're too damn emotional. You need to shut it down. Take all that guilt, take that fear, that being pissed off, take it out."

"Right,'cause you're so calm." Andrea muttered to herself, but Shane was able to hear it.

Shane scoffed and fired at the branch, instantly hitting it without any problem, "See that? See,I can be pissed off. I could be whistling "Dixie" and I'll always hit the target. But you, god, can't shot a thing." Shane shook his head as Andrea and Tyler glared at him and aimed heir pistols at the branch again, "You stand here and you point your weapon. Point like you point your finger. Do not think about it. I'm talking about muscle memory"

He walked over to the branch and threw it forward again. The branch began swinging rapidly as Tyler and Andrea began shooting at it while Shane walked over to them, "Now go on, shoot that son of a bitch. He's coming for you! He's 10' feet away! He's 9'-he's 5' feet away! Right there, that's the walker that got Amy and Lindsay. Now you shoot that son of a bitch! Shoot him!"

Tyler and Andrea stopped what they were doing when Shane mentioned their loved one that died in their arms. They glared at Shane and Tyler even punched Shane in the shoulder, saying, "Don't you even talk about Lindsay."

He and Andrea send Shane one last glare before walking away from him. Shane watched them leave for a second before making way to his vehicle. He got himself into it and turned it on, taking a quick glance where Tyler and Andrea were. They now completely disappeared from his view and were most likely walking down the road towards the farm.

His theory was quickly proven to be a correct one a few moments later when he saw Andrea and Tyler walking down the road, not even paying attention to him and each other. They just walked in complete silence.

"Come on, let me give you a lift." He told them.

"My feet work just fine." Andrea replied.

"I ran in a marathon once. I can do it." Tyler added.

Shane drove the car forward, and stopped it ahead of them. He got out of the car and said, "Look, I'm just trying to get you rattled, give you an idea what it's like when the shit starts to fly."

Tyler turned back to look at Shane for a quick second, "Is that an apology?"

Shane sighed, "I crossed the line when I brought Amy and Lindsay into it. Yeah, it's an apology."

Andrea stopped and looked at him, "You're a real dick sometimes."

"Yeah,I acknowledge that. I'll tell you what: I've got a lead on Sophia. I'm gonna go check it out. Why don't you come with me, be my backup?" Shane asked them.

Tyler and Andrea stared at him for a second before turning towards each other, sharing a quick look with each other. They turned to look at Shane again and gave him silent nods in response.

* * *

Back at the farm Dale and Noah walked over to Lori. The bookworm met up with the eldery man after the group returned from the training and was informed by Dale that he had a talk with Hershel about the walkers in the barn and told his point of view at this situation. Noah wasn't liking this one bit, because they already had enough troubles with trying to find Sophia, and the group finding out about a barn was just a matter of time, which would only cause more troubles.

They went over to Lori who was sitting on a log, intending to have a conversation with her about what Glenn recently told them.

"My wife was pregnant once. She miscarried and we didn't try again after that." Dale spoke up to her.

Lori looked up at him as Noah turned to Dale, both of them shocked by what he just told them. Dale told Noah that he knew how he'll start this conversation with Lori, but the bookworm wasn't excepting anything like this.

Lori stood up from the log and said, "I'm so sorry."

"The thing that I remember most is how nauseated she became at the smell of cooking meat. And she was a meat-eating gal,my wife,but with the pregnancy-that thanksgiving, the turkey." Dale said as Lori, even Noah chuckled, "She couldn't be in the house for two days until it was aired out, poor thing."

"Glenn told you?" Lori asked them, as she sat back down on the log.

Noah nodded his head in confirmation, "He did. It was before we went to that shooting range that Shane found. He's not good at keeping secrets."

"I haven't told Rick." Lori explained, "I can't."

"Because of Shane?" Dale wanted to know.

"Was it that obvious?" Lori asked in return.

Noah leaned against a tree, "I started to have my suspicious when the two of you argued back in Atlanta before Shane beat up Ed."

"I wasn't that sure about this." Dale added, kneeling down in front of Lori.

"Look. I thought my husband was dead." Lori said, in a very shaky tone, "And I felt like I died with him. And I-I wanted to feel something-anything. And now I hate myself for it."

"And the baby?" Dale asked.

"It's Rick's." Lori answered, "None of the rest of it matters"

Dale sat down next to her, "Then what's your concern?"

Lori shook her head, "Memories are what keep me going now. Memories of what life used to be. And I-I've got a deep well to draw on. I still remember joy. But I think Carl's well is already running dry. And this baby-the baby won't have any good memories at all,only fear and pain."

"You can't think like that." Dale said, "We can still find joy and we can still take strength from each other."

"Do you really think this baby has a chance, that it could grow up and live a happy life?" Lori asked, shifting her glances between Dale and Noah, "Look me in the eye and tell me that my baby will grow up to be your age and die happy."

When Dale and Noah remained silent, Lori just nodded her head and stood up from the log. She started to walk away as Noah asked her, "And when we can except you to tell everyone in our group about it? You know that they will find out eventually"

Lori stopped and looked back at Noah, sending him a look before walking away from him and Dale. She made her way to Glenn who was cutting the wood into smaller pieces with an axe.

He quickly stopped when he saw Lori approaching him, "I'm sorry. I'm-it just came out."

"It's okay." Lori assured him with a nod of her head, "I never should have put you in that position. I've been thinking about what you said about needing help. And you're right that I do."

Glenn's answer was quick, "Name it."

"If you're still willing to make a run into town for me." Lori said.

Glenn smiled and nodded his head, 'I'm your man."

Lori moved forward and embraced Glenn in a tight. The asian man hugged her back, "Thank you."

"It's okay. It's not a big deal really." Glenn assured her as Lori released him from the hug, and whispered into his ear what she wanted him to bring her from the town before walking away.

* * *

Shane, Andrea and Tyler had just arrived at the place that they were going to check to see if Sophia was there. Shane stopped the car and all of them got out of it, Andrea and Tyler eyeing their surroundings, the former reloaded her pistol as the latter gripping his baseball bat tightly while Shane looked through his binoculars at the houses.

"We're gonna have to go house to house. We'll start at the far end and we'll work our way back." Shane told them, lowering his binoculars.

Andrea and Tyler nodded in understanding as they began making their way towards one of the houses, the former asking Shane, "If Sophia got this far, she has a real shot, don't you think?"

Shane and Tyler only looked at her, the jock saying, "It's hard to disagree."

"At first she needs to be here." Shane pointed out.

"Then I hope she's here." Tyler sighed. As much as he hated to admit it to himself, he was slowly starting to lose faith that they'll find Sophia. He wanted to find her alive as much as everyone else in the group did but a few days have passed and all they found was just her doll. He gritted his teeth at the thought that Sophia may already be gone.

The walkers have already killed so many good people that he knew. Drake, even though he barely knew him. Amy, Jim and even this guy who shot Carl. They're the reason why Jacqui commited suicide in the CDC. And worst of all one of them tore a hole in Lindsay's stomach which caused her to die in his arms which almost led him to commiting suicide in the CDC.

He didn't want Sophia to end the same way as Amy or Lindsay did. She was just a little girl. The thought of the walkers tearing her into shreds was making him sick. He made a promise to himself after Lindsay that and that he'll make sure he'll kill every walker he'll come across. He didn't care if this will be in this town, or on Hershel's farm. He didn't care that Hershel wanted to deal with the walkers in his own way.

* * *

Lori was busy putting the clothes in he basket when she heard someone slam the gate in front of her. She turned her gaze to the gate and saw Maggie and Glenn walking towards her. She flinched a bit after seeing Maggie's angry expression, and the fact that was actually trying to stop Hershel's daughter from approaching her wasn't helping.

"Hey! We got your stuff." Maggie shouted angrily to her, tossing everything from the bag she was carrying on the ground in front of Lori, "We got your lotion, got your conditioner, your soap opera digest..."

"Maggie..." Lori tried to speak up to her.

Maggie ignored her and continued, "Next time you want something,get it your damn self. We're not your errand boys."

"Honey, I..." Lori tried to speak up again, but Maggie ignored it.

She picked up abortion pills that she and Glenn got from the town and tossed it towards Lori, "And here's your abortion pills."

She glared at Lori one last time before turning back and walked away from her and Glenn. The asian man shared a quick look with Lori before running up to Maggie to catch up with her.

"That was not cool." He told her.

Maggie scoffed, "Which part? The part where that bitch almost got us killed?"

"I should've gone alone." Glenn said, "If you want to blame anybody, blame me."

"Right." Maggie shook her head, "Take the blame. You know, for a smart guy, you're really stupid."

"Okay, I'm confused," Glenn told her, not trying to hide his confustion, "Because I think you just paid me a compliment but you made it s..."

Maggie cut him off by pressing her lips against his. Glenn was suprised at first, but eventually melted into the kiss. When they released each other, Maggie stared into his eyes and said, "I've already lost three of the people that I care about most in this world. You're smart. You're brave. You're a leader. But you don't know it. And your friends don't want to know it. They'd rather have you fetching peaches. There's a dead guy in the well? Send Glenn down. You're walker bait. I can't take you becoming one of them."

* * *

Shane, Tyler and Andrea were slowly making their way through one of the houses. Shane was in the front of the group and had his pistol in ready in case if he was going to need to use it. Andrea and Tyler were right behind him. Tyler placed his pistol in his pocket and walked along the hallway with his baseball bat raised in the air.

"Look." He said, spotting something ahead of them.

Andrea spotted it too, "They walled off the hallway?"

"They tried to make a stand here." Shane stated as he came over to the wailed hallway and climbed to the other side of the house through the hole on the lower part, Tyler and Andrea were quick to follow him. They trio slowly walked through the hallway, looking around themselves, trying to spot anything that could take them to Sophia, or simply to spot if there were any walkers around.

"Sophia?" Andrea called out for Carol's daughter, passing by a few corpses of the walkers, but got no answer. Shane led them down the stairs into the garage. Nothing prepared them for what they saw just a few seconds later. The garage was filled with rotting corpses. Shane took off his hat and looked away from the digusting scene in front of, Tyler let out a disgusted grunt and Andrea placed her hand over her mouth.

"She was never here." The red clothed teenager stated.

Andrea shook her head, "I don't know how to tell Carol this was another dead end."

She got had a chance to hear the answer to her question because all three of them heard snarling coming from the walkers from the other side of the garage door. They quickly turned their attention to the garage doors and saw a least a dozen of the undead approaching them. One of them started quickly crawling into the garage.

"Come on, let's move." Shane said as he pushed himself into run. Tyler and Andrea quickly followed him out of the garage and all three of them made their way outside through the front door, only to see that the entire area was filled with the walkers, "You two cover that street. I'll clear the car."

He moved towards the car and started shooting at the walkers gathered around it, quickly taking care of all them while Andrea and Tyler pulled out their pistols and started shooting at the undead on the street.

Andrea only managed to two bullets because her pistol jammed, "Oh shit."

Tyler fired a few bullets from his pistol, managing to kill two walkers heading their way. She quickly lowered her pistol and started fixing it as Shane turned to look at her, "Focus now. Clear the jam. Focus."

"Are you kidding me?" Andrea asked him as Tyler put his pistol back in his pocket. He picked up his baseball bat and made his way over to the nearest walker.

He slammed his baseball against the walkers head as Shane said to Andrea, "I got your back."

Tyler began slamming his baseball bat against the walkers head until there was nothing left of it. He looked up from the completely crushed skull of the undead as another one lunged towards him. Tyler stepped back and slammed the back of his baseball bat on the walkers head. The walkers stepped backwards as Tyler hit it once again, this time making it collaps on the ground. He proceeded to smash his baseball bat against it's head, until there was nothing left of his head.

He looked back at Andrea and Shane and saw Andrea had just finished putting her pistol back together and aimed it at the undead. He made his way back to them and pulled his pistol out of his pocket once again. He reloaded it and shared a quick look with Andrea as they fired at the two undead heading their way. Their bullets hit the undead straight in their heads, their lifeless bodies collapsing on the ground.

The duo quickly took out two more walkers as Shane nodded his head at them, "Let's go, guys!"

Shane, Tyler and Andrea quickly ran over to the car and got into it. Shane and Andrea sat in the front while Tyler took the backseat. Shane quickly started the car and drove away from that place as soon as it was possible, their last sight of that town being several walkers going after them, but of course, they never had to chance to catch up to their car.

They made it back to the farm when the sun started to disappear from the horizon. They were instantly greeted by Carol who instantly asked them, "Anything?"

Shane shook his head, "Not today."

"I'm so sorry. We'll cover more ground tomorrow." Andrea assured Carol with a nod of her head.

Carol eyed Andrea for a second and quickly spotted some blood on Andrea's neck, "What happened out there?"

"This place was filled with the walkers. We had to run." Tyler said, showing off his bloodied baseball bat to clarify his point.

Andrea nodded her head in confirmation, "Yeah."

"Let's go get you clean up." Carol said as she placed her hand on Andrea's shoulder and started taking her to get her cleaned up.

Tyler and Shane were left alone, and the teenager asked Shane the question that was on his mind since they left that town, "Do you think we're going to find Sophia?"

Shane turned to look at Tyler and after a moment shook his head, "What about you, kid?"

Tyler sighed, "I'm conflicted to be honest. I want to find her. We already lost a few people before we got to this farm and I don't her to join them, but at the same time I'm not sure if we're going to find her. It's been so many days since we lost her and her doll was the only thing that we found so far. I'm really starting to think that looking for her may be pointless at this point. Especially after what happened to Daryl and Duncan yesterday and what happened to me, you and Andrea today."

Dale approached the duo, "Tyler. Can I talk with Shane for a moment?"

Tyler looked at Shane who said to him, "I'll be back in a moment, kid."

The red clothed teenager nodded his head and leaned against the car as Shane and Dale went over several meters away from him, "What do you want, Dale?"

"I was thinking, you've got that nice new ride of yours, plenty of fuel,more than enough for you to get far from here." Dale answered.

"What, you telling me to leave?" Shane asked him another question.

"I know you've been planning to." Dale explained, "Maybe now is a good time. I'm looking out for the group."

"You think the group would be better off without me, Dale?" Shane wanted to know, "Why don't you tell that to Rick or Lori? Their boy would be dead if I hadn't put my ass on the line."

"And Otis' and Chef's." Dale corrected, "You've been vague about that night,about what happened."

"Otis died a hero and I had no idea that Chef was still alive." Shane quickly replied.

"So you've said." Dale stated.

"A little boy lived because of what went down that night. I think you ought to show some gratitude." Shane told him.

"I wasn't there." Dale said in return.

Shane shook his head, "No, man, you weren't."

"But I was the time that you raised your gun on Rick." Dale declared, coming closer to Shane who put his hand over his face, "You had him in your sights and you held him there. I know what kind of man you are"

"You think I'd shoot Rick?" Shane asked, coldly, "That is my best friend. That's the man that I love. I love him like he's my brother. You think that's the kind of man I am?"

Dale nodded his head in confirmation, "That's right."

Shane came closer to Dale, whispering into his ear, his voice was coldlier than before, "Well, maybe we ought to just think that through. Say I'm the kind of man who'd gun down his own best friend. What do you think I'd do to some guy that I don't even like when he starts throwing accusations my way? What do you think?"

Dale never answered to his question. He just stared at Shane, absolutely terrified by what he just said to him. Shane gave Dale one last glare before walking away from the eldery man. He walked back to Tyler and gave him a pat on his back and the two of them moved towards the camp, starting a conversation with each other.

* * *

Rick entered his tent and took off his holster, placing it on the small table inside. He spotted something laying on the table, next to the walkie-talkie. He kneeled down in front of it and picked up the thing that caught his attention. This thing was an empty box of abortion pills and and it looked like someone opened it not that long ago.

He eyed it for a few seconds before quickly coming out of his tent in order to find the only from his tent that could use these pills. His wife. He saw sitting on the other side of the gate, watching the fields through the fence in front of her.

He made his way to his wife. She must have heard him approaching her because she stood up and turned around to face him. He instantly asked her, "Is there something you need to tell me?"

"We can't leave." Lori answered, glancing down at her stomach, "I'm pregnant."

"Are you?" Rick asked her, showing her the box he found in their tent.

"I threw them up." Lori replied as Rick started coming closer to her, "You can yell if you want. You can scream if you have to,but talk to me."

Rick leaned in a bit, his face was now inches away from his wife's, "How long have you known?"

"Does it matter?" Lori asked, confused his question.

"Days? Weeks? And you didn't tell me?" Rick asked in return, his eyes not leaving his wife.

"I'm telling you now." Lori pointed out.

"No!" Rick snapped, not even hiding how displeased he was by his wife's actions, "I found these. So Glenn knows, right? Instead of going to me, you sent him to get pills?"

"I panicked. You tell me we have no roof and no walls..." Lori tried to explain herself but Rick quickly cut her off.

"Do not put this on me!" Rick screamed in anger, "You tear into me for keeping secrets when you're holding onto this?"

"You want me to bring a baby into this?" Lori asked, raising her voice, "To live a short, cruel life?"

Rick shook his head, "How can you think like that?"

"We can't even protect the sons we already have." Lori stated, shaking her head with teary eyes.

Rick showed her the box once again and threw it on the ground, "So this is the solution?"

"Rick, I threw them up. I screwed up." Lori admitted, starting to cry, "I don't know how we do this."

Rick sighed as Lori turned away from him, placing her hands on the fence. Rick breathed in before speaking up again, "We can make it work."

"How?" Lori asked, turning her gaze back to her husband, "Tell me how."

"We'll figure it how." Rick said, coming to join her wife by the fence, "Shouldn't we try to figure it out? You threw up the pills. You want this baby. I know you do."

Lori shook her head, "Not like this. Not giving birth in a ditch. Not when it's life will hang by a thread from the second it's born. Not when every cry will put it, and Carl, and everyone we care about, in danger. That's not right."

"Not even giving it a chance isn't right either." Rick pointed out.

Lori put her hand on her forehead, "Maybe this is why I didn't want to tell you."

"I still-I still don't understand why." Rick stated, "You really think I'd make you have a baby you don't want?"

"No, so that if I went through with it, it would be on my conscience and not yours." Lori explained.

"Maybe that's true, but I can't live like this anymore, Lori." Rick explained, "We can't live like this. Is there anything else I should know about?"

Lori was silent for the next several seconds before finally speaking up, "Shane and I."

Rick nodded his head and turned away from Lori for a second before turning back to her, "I know. Of course I know. You thought I was dead. The world went to shit and you thought I was dead. Right?"

Lori nodded her head, now fully crying, "Yeah."

* * *

**I know that all of you are pretty much aware of this at this point, but it was** **announced a few days ago that The Walking Dead is ending in season 11 which will come out in 2022. I'm surely going to miss this show because I grew up watching it. I had** **suspicions that TWD may end soon because the story was reaching the Commonwealth arc (I wonder who they're going to cast as Pamela and Mercer), but still seeing the notification from Skybound was quite saddening to me, because despise having its ups and downs *cough*season 8*cough*, I still love this show and** **I hope that the finale is going to be better than Game of Thrones'.**

**And along with the news about TWD ending in season 11, It was also announced that a completely new show will come out in 2023 and it will focus on Daryl and Carol (I think it's easy to say that both of them will survive the final season). I'm definitely looking forward to watch this because both of the characters are among my favourites in the entire show.**


	13. Pretty Much Dead Already

Another day has passed at Hershel's farm and everyone from the group were minding their own business in their camp. Andrea and Izzy were sharpening their knives, Tyler was cleaning his baseball bat, Chef and Chris were eating breakfast, Duncan was sharpening a stick with his knife, creating another arrow for his bow and Carol and DJ had just finished making another portions of food for the group.

Glenn sat by himself on the edge of the camp, having already finished his breakfast. He turned to look at the farm house and saw Maggie standing on the porch. She shook her head at him and he was to which she was referring to by that. He turned away from her to look at Dale and Noah who unlike Maggie nodded their heads.

He nodded his head at them, knowing what he should do next. He stood up from his sitting position and walked over to the group and stood in the center of the camp so everyone could see him, "Um, guys." He said, earning everyone's attention, "So...the barn is full of walkers."

Everyone stopped what they were doing as if someone had just frozen them is place and stared at Glenn in shock after hearing his announced about the barn.

Shane took a quick peek through the small hole in the wall and saw that the barn was indeed filled with walkers. He shook his head and walked over to Rick, "You cannot tell me you're all right with this."

"No. I'm not, but we're guests here." Rick pointed out, "This isn't our land."

"This is our lives!" Shane shouted.

"Lower your voice." Glenn told Shane, not wanting to alarm Hershel and his family that his group knew.

"We can't just sweep this under the rug." Andrea stated.

"What if they somehow break out of the barn? Our camp is not that far from this barn." Alejandro added, as he crossed his arms, the scenario that was similiar to their camp back in Atlanta popping into his mind, "Keeping them in there is too risky for all of us."

Heather nodded her head in agreement, "There is now way that I am sleeping when those things are in this barn."

"It ain't right. Not remotely." Shane stated, shaking his head, "Okay, we've either got to go in there, we've got to make things right or we've just got to go. Now we have been talking about Fort Benning for a long time."

"We can't go." Rick stated.

"Why?" Shane asked him.

"Because my daughter is still out there." Carol answered.

Shane looked at Carol and rubbed his head with both of his hands, "Okay. Okay, I think It's time that we all start to just consider the other possibility."

Chef crossed his arms at Shane, "Don't tell me that you mean what I think you do?"

"Do you really believe that we're going to find her?" Shane asked coming closer to the co-host of Total Drama, "You were in the army. Tell me, would a little girl without food or water, without any survival skills or combat experience survive in these woods on her own for so many days?"

"We're 'close to finding this girl" Duncan said before Chef could answer as Shane looked at the juvie who stood next to Daryl, "Daryl found her doll two days ago."

"That's right, Duncan." Tyler spoke up, "Daryl found a doll. We don't even know when she left it there. For all we know she could have left it right after Rick left her."

Bridgette turned to look at Tyler, shocked that he would say anything like this,"Are you even listening to yourself?"

"Tyler, this is a little girl we're talking about!" Harold pointed out.

"Don't you want to find her?" Gwen added.

"I want her to be here with us now, but we need to face the facts here." Tyler began. He and Shane had a talk about it yesterday and they both came to the same conclusion. He wanted to find Sophia, but the group had to face the facts, just like he did yesterday, "She disappeared so many days ago and we're not even close to finding her. We need to start considering that we may never find her. Duncan and Daryl almost died while looking for her christ's sake! We need to start thinking about the members of our group that are here now and how to keep them safe and that includes opening this barn and taking care of those things before they'll kill one of us!"

Daryl glared at the jock, "You don't know what the hell you're talking about."

"He's saying what needs to be said." Shane said, happy that at least one person was agreeing with him, "You get a good lead, it's in the first 48 hours."

Daryl glared at Shane and charged towards him, only to be held back by Rick who stepped between these two before anything could happen, "Shane, stop."

Shane ingnored Rick's attempts to shush him and continued, "Let me tell you something else, man. If she was alive out there and saw you coming all methed out with your buck knife and geek ears around your neck ,she would run in the other direction."

"Shut up!" Daryl shouted, attempting to charge at Shane again, only to be held back by other people in the group.

Shane stepped forward towards Daryl, not intending to stop, but Chef and Lori pushed him away, as Rick yelled out to him, "Back off."

"Keep your hands off me." Shane said to Lori and Chef, turning to walk away. He shot Chef a disappointed look. He excepted that Chef out of all people would realize it by now.

"Now, just let me talk to Hershel. Let me figure it out." Rick tried to reason with him.

Shane turned back at him, shouting angrily, "What are you gonna figure out?!"

Rick pointed at the barn, "If we're gonna stay,if we're gonna clear this barn,I have to talk him into it. This is his land."

Dale stepped forward, earning everyone's attention, "Hershel sees those things in there as people-sick people-his wife, his stepson."

Chris titled his head at Dale, "You knew?"

"Glenn told me and Noah yesterday." Dale said as everyone turned to look at the bookworm who just nodded his head in confirmaton,

Shane shifted his glances between Dale and Noah, clearly displeased that they waited a day to tell them, "And you couldn't tell us sooner?"

"Noah wanted to but I told him to keep it a secret for one more day." Dale said as he glanced at Shane, "I thought we could survive one more night. We did. I was waiting till this morning to say something. But Glenn wanted to be the one."

"The man is crazy, Rick." Shane stated as Rick held out his hand to him, telling him to shush, "if Hershel thinks those things are alive or no."

One of the walkers in the barn started touching the entrance as Alejandro shook his head, his arms still crossed, "I don't like this. Not one bit."

"That's a gentle way of putting it." Tyler shook his head at Alejandro words, walking closer to Rick and Dale, "Are we supposed to live in a place where someone locks walkers in a barn because he thinks his relatives are still alive, leaving all of us in danger while doing so? I don't know about you but I wouldn't like to keep my loved one in this state." He turned to look at DJ, "What would you do if that was your Momma, DJ? Would you want her to be in this state?"

DJ glared at Tyler, pointing at it, "Dude, not cool. Don't bring my Momma into this."

"Answer to me." Tyler demanded as he came closer to DJ, wanting to prove his point about Hershel's delusions.

"Tyler, don't." Bridgette said.

"Just leave the big guy alone." Leshawna added.

Tyler ignored them and stopped in front of DJ, "If you came across your Momma as a walker would you like her to remain as one or would you want her to put her down?"

DJ continued to glare at Tyler as Chef walked over to the jock, giving him a stern look, "Leave him alone, soldier."

Tyler turned around to look at Chef, but never had a chance to say anything to him as the walkers in the barn started slamming themselves againt the barns doors. The group stopped arguing and shifted their attention towards the entrance to the barn as some of them took a few steps backwards.

* * *

Daryl and Duncan were in the stabbles, preparing go looking for Sophia. Duncan readied the arrows that he made in the morning as Daryl walked next to him, holding a saddle. The younger Dixon groaned at the pain in his abdomen and put the saddle down.

Carol who must have followed them into the stabbles approached them, "You can't, both of you."

Daryl simply shrugged her worries off, "I'm fine."

"Hershel said you two need to heal." Carol reminded them.

"I'll be fine. My stitches will hold out if I'll be careful." Duncan stated.

"And I don't care." Daryl added.

"I do." Carol said as Daryl opened Nelly's stable, "Rick and Chef going out later to follow the trail. Chris is joining them too."

"I ain't gonna sit around and do nothing." Daryl told her.

"Especially when Shane and Tyler are talking about leaving Sophia behind." Duncan added to which Daryl nodded his head in agreement.

"No, you're gonna go out there and get yourself hurt even worse." Carol stated as Duncan and Daryl simply shrugged it off, "We don't know if we're gonna find her." The redneck and the juvie stopped what they were doing and looked at Carol, their expressions asking her if she was serious, "We don't. I don't."

Daryl came closer to Carol, asking her, "What?"

Duncan was close behind him, "Are you serious, right now?"

Tears started to spill down Carol's cheeks, "...Can't lose both of you too."

Daryl and Duncan stared at her for a second before the former dropped his bag on the ground. He walked over to the saddle and angrily tossed it across the stabbles, almost falling on his knees at the pain he felt in his abdomen.

Carol quickly went over to his side, in worry, "Are you all right?"

"Just leave me be!" Daryl shouted, rising back on his feet. He exited from the stabbles, whispering, "Stupid bitch." to himself.

Carol watched him leave before turning her attention towards Duncan who walked out of the stabbles shorty after Daryl did. He made his way back to the camp, but wasn't going to stop there. He walked through the camp, earning attention of a lot of people from his group.

Courtney went over to his side, "Is everything okay, Duncan?"

"Leave me alone, princess." Duncan told her, increasing his speed.

* * *

Noah made his way to Dale's RV after a rather heated argument about what the group should do about the walkers in the barn. He needed to get his mind off this topic for a moment and there wasn't a better thing for it than a good book. He saw Andrea coming out of the RV with a bag wrapped around her shoulder. He turned to look at the barn and saw Shane and Tyler standing there, probably waiting for her.

He heard Glenn greet him from the top of the RV when he approached the vehicle, "Hey, Noah."

Noah looked up at Glenn and saw that the asian man wore Dale's hat and that his old hat was gone. "What happened to your old hat?"

"Maggie." Glenn answered.

"Let me guess, she didn't like that you told everyone about the barn?" Noah stated the obvious to which Glenn nodded his head in agreement, "Are you starting to have second thoughts about this?"

"I don't know, to be honest." Glenn answered.

Noah shrugged his shoulders, "Our group would found out anyway. If they didn't find out themselves, then I would tell them."

"What do you think we should do about the walkers?" Glenn asked him.

"I think we should kill them. Keeping them in there is putting all of us is danger." Noah replied, "And don't tell we that we should leave it be. I know that you have similiar thoughts about this, Maggie is the only thing that is keeping you from it."

Dale's voice called out for them from the RV, "Hey, Glenn, Noah."

"What is it, Dale?" Glenn asked the eldery man.

"You guys mind running and getting me some water?..." Dale asked them with a small pause in the middle, "... I just need a second."

"You'll keep watch?" Glenn asked Dale another question. When he didn't got an answer, he called out, "Dale?"

Dale answered after a moment, "Yeah, sure."

"As long as there won't be another walker in the well." Noah said. He didn't had much to do anyway

Glenn nodded his head and hopped off the RV, joining Noah on the ground. "Let's go."

"Let's just get this over with." Noah said, "And take Dale's hat off."

Glenn looked at him confused, "Why?"

"Because it looks ridiculous on you." Noah pointed out.

Dale peeked out from the RV and watched how Glenn and Noah were slowly making their way towards the well before turning his attention to the bag of guns. He zipped the bag and placed it over shoulder, intending to hide it away from a certain person from the group.

* * *

Rick walked into the farm house, intending to have a talk with Hershel about his recent finding about the barn. He knocked on the doors and Hershel told him to come it. Rick did as he was told to and walked into the house. He quickly spotted Hershel. The eldery farmer sat by the table and read a book while having a small lunch.

The sheriff depurt pointed at the book Hershel was reading, "A little light reading for lunch?"

"Been working so hard lately I get my studying where I can." Hershel answered.

"You know we can help you out with your work." Rick offered, placing his hands on the chair.

"It's my field to tend." Hershel stated.

Rick remained silent a for few seconds before bringing up the topic that he came here for, "We found the barn."

"Leave it be." Hershel said, his eyes on his book.

"Well, I'd like to talk about it." Rick said, "But either way, your barn, your farm, your say."

"I don't want to talk about the barn." Hershel said, sternly, taking his eyes off his book to look up at Rick, "I don't want to debate."

"Not a debate, a discussion." Rick pointed out.

Hershel wiped his mouth with a handkerchief before saying, "I need you and your group gone by the end of the week."

"I talked to Dale." Rick began as Hershel took a sip of his drink, "You and I have our differences with the way we look at the walkers. Those people,they may be dead, they may be alive. But my people,us, we are alive right now, right here,right in front of you. You send us out there and that could change."

"I've given you safe harbor." Hershel said, firmly, "My conscience is clear."

Rick sat down next to Hershel, "This farm is special. You've been shielded from what's going on out there. Dale said you saw everything happen on the news. Well, It's been-It's been a long time since the cameras stopped rolling." Hershel stood up from his seat and started to walk away from Rick, not wanting to listen to any of it, "The first time I saw a walker it was just half a body snapping at me from the ground. My inclination wasn't to kill it. But what the world is out there isn't what you saw on TV. It is much much worse and it changes you."

Hershel stopped in front of a window as Rick continued, "Either into one of them or something a lot less than the person you were. Please do not-do not send us out there again."

Hershel remained silent. Rick turned away from and started to walk out but stopped in the middle of a room when something came into his mind. Something that could convice Hershel. He thought for a few seconds before revealing somethng to the eldery farmer about his wife,

"My wife's pregnant." He declared as Hershel turned away from the window to look at the sheriff deputy, suprised by this revelation, "That's either a gift here or a death sentence out there. If we were to stay we could help you with the work, with securing this place. We can survive together."

* * *

Shane was leaning against an old tractor, observing the barn. He decided to start a watch duty over this barn the moment he found out that Hershel was keeping the walkers in there and he was the first volunteer. Tyler and Andrea joined him for most of the day, but as for now, he was left alone on the watch. He looked in the direction of Hershel's house and saw Rick approaching him.

"What's it gonna be, man?" He asked as Rick stopped next to him, "Which way does this thing go?"

Rick shook his head, "I don't know, man.."

"Well, what did he say?" Shane wanted to know.

"We're negotiating." Rick explained.

"You're negotiating." Shane snorted, "Clock's ticking, Rick."

"No, it isn't, Shane." Rick disagreed, "That barn is secure. We didn't even know about it till this morning."

"We didn't. Well, we know about it now. Right?" Shane pointed out, "We know there's over a dozen walkers in there. You heard the point that Alejandro made about this barn being about a stone's throw from our camp where we sleep. So look, if we're not gonna go in there and clear it out then we just got to go

"We're not gonna clear it out." Rick argued, "And we're not gonna go."

"We at least need our guns." Shane stated.

"We can't have them." Rick reminded him, "Not here."

"Why do you want to stay here when it's not safe?" Shane asked.

"We can make it safe." Rick answered.

"How we gonna do that?" Shane wanted to know.

Rick gave him an assuring nod, "We will, okay?"

Shane shook his head, "No, man, it's not okay."

"Shane." Rick paused for a second, "Lori's pregnant. We need to stay."

Shane didn't know how to react to this. He was in complete shock after hearing what Rick just said to him. He had to take a moment to process this information, "We need our guns."

"No, I can work this out." Rick assured him, starting to leave. He took a step away from Shane before stopping to look back at him, "You good?"

"Yeah." Shane said with a small laugh, "Lori's having a baby,man. Congratulations."

* * *

Rick, Chef, Chris and Andrea were gathered around Shane's car. Chef placed his map on the front of the vehicle as Rick started to move his finger along it, discussing where they should next if they wanted to find Sophia.

Andrea, Chef and Chris made sure to listen to Rick's plan,"...Also shows she could be moving this way south. If Sophia kept in that direction, she might have gotten out of the forest and into the farmland. So we take 74 up to Ivy road,then push down south on foot through the forest till we hit Christopher, go east a couple of miles and then double back."

"Sounds good to me." Chef nodded his head, liking his plan.

"When do we head out?" Chris asked.

Rick turned to the host of Total Drama, "In a few minutes."

"Rick." Hershel's voice rang in their ears and all four of them turned back to see the eldery farmer approaching them.

"Don't worry about guns." Chris told Hershel, moving his shirt a bit to cover his Glock which was in his pocket, "We have them because we're gonna go look for Sophia."

"Before you do that, I could use Rick's help with something." Rick declared.

"I'm in." Andrea said.

Chef nodded his head in agreement, "I'll go too."

Chris just gave him a silent nod of his head in agreement.

"Thank you." Hershel thanked them, "But I just need Rick."

"I'll be down at the barn keeping watch with Tyler until you're ready." Andrea said to Rick, before walking away from them towards the barn to join Tyler at the barn.

"Are you sure?" Chef asked Hershel a few seconds after Andrea left, "I can go with you. It would be safer if there were more of us."

Hershel thought for a few seconds before nodding his head, "Alright, but don't do anything unless I'll tell you to."

"Can we bring our guns?" Chris asked him.

Hershel nodded his head, "Just don't do anything with them, unless the situation will require you to use it."

* * *

Lori was busy cutting carrots for the dinner with DJ when Shane walked over to them. Lori had to admit. She was impressed by how fast and professionally DJ was cutting the carrots, but she could at the same time see that DJ was stressed out about something. This was probably about the argument they had earlier that day.

"Hey, DJ." Shane said, approaching them as they looked up at him, "Can I talk with Lori for a second. In private."

DJ nodded his head, but still, Shane could see the teenager giving him an angry look. Shane quickly realized that DJ must have been sending him this look because of things he said about Sophia, but he didn't care about it.

DJ picked up all of the pieces of carrots he and Lori cut so far, and said to Lori, "I'll bring this to our camp."

Lori nodded her head in undestanding as DJ headed off towards their camp. Shane waited until DJ would be in a safe distance from them, so the teenager wouldn't hear them talk, "I thought he was dead."

Lori instantly knew to what Shane was referring to, "Don't."

Shane ignored her and continued, "Then when he came back,right then,right there,you see I wished he was. Not-not because you wouldn't be mine,but because I knew that sooner or later he would be dead. See Rick,he ain't built for this world,not for what it is now."

"You're wrong." Lori shook her head, "You're wrong."

"Lori,how many times has he saved your life?" Shane asked her, "I just-I want to know how many times. Because by my account,I've saved your life on four different occasions and that's Carl's too. So I just want to ask you,how many times has Rick saved your life?"

He didn't had to wait long for Lori's answer, "That night at the camp. After the Fish Fry."

"No." Shane shook his head in disagreement, "That was me to. You see, Rick, he showed up late because he went on a suicide mission over nothing. Yeah, he joined in, but see, we wouldn't have been in that situation if he hadn't left because he felt that he needed to leave to save a drug dealer. And so we lost Amy, we lost Lindsay and we lost Jim. We lost-Rick told me..."

Lori cut him off, "Tell you what?"

She quickly realized what Shane meant by that when he said, "And I know the reason why you didn't is because you know it's mine."

"It's Rick's." She quickly said.

"Okay." Shane nodded his head, "You know, we carried on quite a bit before Rick got back,Lori. It's mine. You know it is."

"You're wrong. You're wrong." Lori shook her head, "I'm sorry. Shane,I'm sorry. But even if it's yours,it's not gonna be yours. It's never gonna be yours and there's nothing you can do to change that."

* * *

Tyler just finished his watch duty at the barn and made his way back to the camp. He could feel some of the people there giving him an angry look, but he ignored all of them.

He went over to a spot under a tree and was about to sit down under it but stopped when Harold walked over to him, "What do you want, Harold? If you want to talk with me about what is going on me with, even though that's not true, then don't even start."

"It is about Sophia." Harold told him.

Tyler sighed, "What about Sophia?"

"I know that you think she's dead and that we should stop looking for her, but you need to know that you're wrong." Harold said.

"I thought you would be smart enough to realize that." Tyler argued, "Didn't you heard the point that Shane made when he was talking with Chef."

"And, Sophia is not the only thing that I wanted to talk with you about." Harold said as he turned to look at DJ who was glaring at Tyler, "This is about the barn and how you brought up DJ's..."

Tyler shook his head, "It was just to prove my point. Keeping these things into the barn is already putting all of us in danger, and the worst of all, this is Hershel's own family. He is keeping his own family as the walkers and this is just wrong."

Harold crossed his arms, "And what would happen if someone brought up Lindsay to you if you haven't seen her since this begun? Would you like it if someone asked you what would you do if you saw her as a walker?"

Tyler gritted his teeth and punched Harold in the cheek, knocking the nerdy teenager on the ground, "Don't use Lindsay as an example. She is dead. Unlike DJ's Momma. There is a chance that DJ's Momma is still alive, unlike Lindsay who we all know died after a walker tore a hole in her stomach. Don't even think about bringing her up again."

He send Harold one last glare before walking away from him. Leshawna, Cody and Sierra quickly ran over to Harold, checking if everything was okay with him as Tyler headed out from the camp.

"Hey, Tyler." He turned to the source of the voice and saw Shane.

The jock turned to look at him, "Where are you going, Shane?"

"Dale took all of the weapons somewhere. I'm going to find them and give them to everyone in our group." Shane explained, "You with me?"

Tyler nodded his head, "Let's go."

* * *

Hershel led Rick, Chef, Chris and Jimmy through the forest to the swamps, planning to show the sheriff deputy and the two hosts of Total Drama his point of view about the walkers and how they were only sick people who just needed help.

"The silt on the bottom is like glue. You just sink in." Hershel said to Rick, Chris and Chef as they just made their way to the swamps, spotting two walkers stuck to the bottom. He quickly recognized one of them, "That's Lou Bush."

"You knew him?" Rick asked as they started approaching the walkers.

"Lou as in Louise. She has a farm up the road. Sweet corn mostly. Worked at hapman's bar on weekends." Hershel explained, "The man, I don't know him,but the coveralls, I've been to where he worked. How many have you killed?"

"Too many to count." Rick answered.

Chef nodded his head in agreement. The walker on that gas station, the first walker he ever killed popping into his mind, "Same here."

"I don't know either, but I know that I killed much less of them than these two." Chris answered as they stopped in front of the swamp, catching the attention of the two walkers.

"Can you stop?" Hershel asked. Rick, Chris, and Chef nodded their heads, deciding to go along with what Hershel was saying, thinking that it may convice him to let them stay on his farm. The owner of the said farm pointed at the walkers, "There are people out there who haven't been in their right minds, people who I believe can be restored."

"You're not talking about the walkers, are you?" Chef asked him, disagreeing with what Hershel was saying, but he knew he had to go along with it, at least for now. He had to keep the group safe and staying at his farm was the best option they had right now. He could say that Rick and Chris were disagreeing with Hershel as well, though they were staying silent about this, just like he did.

Hershel looked at the co-host of Total Drama, "It doesn't matter if you see them as human beings anymore. But if you want to stay at my farm with my people then, that's how you're gonna have to treat them. My farm, my barn, my say."

* * *

Duncan had no idea how much time have passed since he left the farm. He just wanted to be alone, to think about some things. He found a place that he thought was good for it when a lake came into his view.

He exhaled deeply and stopped right in front of the lake, looking at the water in front of him when a familiar voice sounded in his ears, "What are you doing here, Duncan?"

He turned to the source of the voice and saw Courtney coming his way. She must have followed him here, "I should be the one asking you this question."

"I just followed you to the place you were heading to." Courtney explained, stopping next to him, "You've been here before?"

"No." Duncan shook his head, "I was looking for a good place to think about something and found this place."

"Think?" Courtney titled her head, 'Think about what?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Duncan quickly answered. His encounter with Timothy in the forest and Carol's words about Sophia popped into his mind. He looked around his surroundings and saw that a familiar flower was nearby, "No way."

He started making his way towards the flower as Courtney followed him, "What is it?"

Duncan stopped in front of the flower and pointed at it, "It's a Cherokee Rose."

"How do you know that?" Courtney asked, finding it quite amusing that Duncan would know what kind of a flower this is.

"Daryl explained what kind of a flower this is to me when were looking for Sophia." Duncan answered. He turned away from the Cherokee Rose and looked at Courtney, before giving her a quick explanation about this flower.

Just then, they heard someone walking towards them. They turned in the direction of these people, Daryl readying himself to take his bow off his back just in case if these persons turned out to be walkers, but instead saw familiar faces of Daryl and Carol approaching them.

Courtney smiled at them, "It looks like they had similiar idea to yours."

"What are you doing here?" Daryl asked, approaching the juvie and the CIT with Carol.

"I left the farm, looking for a place where I just could think about some things, and she followed me here." Duncan answered, "And what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to show her something." Daryl answered, stopping next to Duncan and Courtney along with Carol. The juvie and the CIT knew why he took Carol here. The younger Dixon pointed at the Cherokee Rose, glancing at Duncan before shifting his attention towards Carol, "We'll find her."

"We'll make sure that you will see your daughter again." Duncan nodded his head in agreement.

"And I'll help the two of you." Courtney nodded her head to that, "You don't need to worry about me out there. I became a good shot during our training. I'm not perfect, I still have a problem with a moving target, but I'll improve."

Carol nodded her head at them, grateful as Daryl was silent for a few seconds before speaking up to her, "I'm sorry about what happened this morning."

"You wanted to look for her." Carol shrugged it off, "Why? This whole time I've just wanted to ask you. I would ask Duncan as well but Courtney already told me."

Daryl exchanged looks with Duncan before answering, "Cause I think she's still out there."

* * *

Dale carefully placed the bag with guns on the ground when he found a good place to hide them. It was in the swamps. The group wasn't being in the swamps that much and he thought that it may take a while before Shane will realize where he hid their guns. He started readying everything he took with him. He took out a hammer and a large nail.

His hopes that Shane wasn't going to find out where he hid their weapons were quickly crushed when he heard a familiar voice call out to him, "Man, this is a good hiding place. We ain't been in the swamps much, huh?"

He turned to the voice and saw Shane standing with Tyler, "Imagine if you applied your tracking skills to finding Sophia."

Shane and Tyler started approaching him, the latter asking him, "How about you'll give us this bag, Dale?"

"I'm not gonna do that if Shane is here." Dale answered.

"Yeah, you are, Dale. After all, you're the one that has a rifle over his shoulder." Shane pointed out.

"Just give us the bag, Dale. We just want to keep our group safe, including you." Tyler added, "We need to give each member of group a gun. Hershel is putting all of us in danger by making us sleep next to a barn that if filled with walkers."

"Guys, Rick is trying to get him..." Dale was interrupted.

Shane cut him off, "Dale, shut up. Just shut up and give me the guns."

Dale turned to look at Tyler, hoping that he'll change the red clothed teenagers mind, "Tyler. Rick is trying to convice Hershel to let us stay on his farm. Our group is going to safe here, just like you want."

"By making us sleep next to that barn and leaving us weaponless? No, our group won't be safe enough." Tyler shook his head, "Tell me, Dale? What is going to happen if the walkers in the barn will somehow break out from there when we'll be sleeping and we'll be unaware of that before it's too late? Everything we're doing right now is to protect our group and I hope you'll understand this." He approached Dale and picked the bag up from the ground, "Just think about it." He turned to leave, intending to head back to the farm, and looked at Shane, "You're coming?"

"In a moment, kid." Shane assured him to which Tyler nodded his head at him.

Dale and Shane watched Tyler leave until the former said to the latter, "This is where you belong, Shane."

"How's that, Dale?" Shane wanted to know.

"This world, what it is now, this is where you belong." Dale stated, "And I may not have what it takes to last for long, but that's okay. 'Cause at least I can say when the world goes to shit I didn't let it take me down with it."

Shane nodded his head at his words, "Fair enough."

He send Dale one last look before following Tyler to catch up to him.

* * *

A few people were simply minding their own business around the farm house. Carl was doing something with Patricia and Beth on the porch, Noah was reading a book after finally having a chance to get his hands on one, and Maggie and Glenn were sitting next to each other on the porch.

"You look like you should be in line for the early bird special." Maggie said, touching Dale's hat on Glenn's head.

"I know." Glenn laughed, pointing at Noah who sat behind them, "Noah already told me that I look ridiculous in this hat."

Maggie smiled at him, "Go get your cap. I'll wash it for you, okay?"

Andrea, T-Dog, Alejandro and Heather approached the farm house, T-Dog asking, "Do you know what's going on?"

"Where is everyone?" Alejandro asked shorty after.

"You haven't seen Rick." Glenn asked in return, standing up from the porch.

"He went off with Hershel." Andrea explained, stopping in front of Glenn, "We were supposed to leave with Chef and Chris a couple hours ago."

"Yes, you were." Daryl said, as he approached the farm house with Duncan, Courtney and Carol, earning everyone attention, "What the hell?"

"Rick told us he was going out." Carol added.

"Uh, guys." Another person approached the farm house. This time it was Sierra who approached the farm house along with the rest of Total Drama contestants, "Have you seen Chef or Chris?"

"We thought that they went with you and Rick but that obviously didn't happen with you being still on the farm." Gwen added.

Andrea shook her head, "I was about to ask you the same thing."

Duncan eyed his fellow contestants and noticed a spot on Harold's cheek, "What the hell happened to you, Doris?"

Harold rubbed his cheek, "Tyler punched me and then just left."

"What did you do to piss him off?" Duncan asked another question.

"I went to talk with him and tell him that he shouldn't be saying that Sophia is gone and that he shouldn't be asking DJ what would he do if he saw his Momma as a walker." Harold explained, "He punched me after I asked him how would he felt if someone askedhim what would he do if he saw Lindsay as a walker."

"Where did he left?" Courtney asked.

"I and Glenn saw him heading into the forest with Shane." Noah explained.

"Uh, guys." Owen said, pointing in the direction of the forest, "I think I know where they went."

Everyone turned in the direction that Owen was pointing at and saw Tyler and Shane walking towards the house. Shane exchanged a look with Tyler who had the bag of guns wrapped over his shoulder.

Daryl was the first one to respond to this and stepped forward from the rest of the group, "What's all this?"

Shane and Tyler walked over to him and the latter held out a shotgun to the redneck, as Shane asked him, "You with me?"

Daryl took the shotgun from Tyler, "Yeah."

"Time to grow up." Shane declared, approaching the rest of the group with Tyler. He glanced behind at Andrea, T-Dog, Alejandro and Heather, "You already got yours?"

"Yeah." Andrea nodded her head as Tyler held out a shotgun to Duncan who took it from him, "Where's Dale?"

"He's on his way here." Tyler assured her as he started giving out weapons to everyone in the group. Some people took a weapon from him without hesitation, like T-Dog, Alejandro or even Heather who was one of the ones that still were not a fan of being trained how to use a gun when the training started. There were also people who didn't want to take a weapon from him. Bridgette, DJ and Cody were one of them.

"Do I have to?" Cody asked him, as Tyler shoved a pistol towards him.

"Do you want to survive, kid?" Shane said, sternly to Cody, who nervously took the pistol from Tyler. Sierra glared at him, before taking one pistol for herself. Tyler moved towards Izzy and Owen who took a weapon from themselves, though the latter seemed to have seconds thoughts about this, mostly because he still had a lot to improve when it came to shooting. Shane stopped in the center of the group, so everyone would have their eyes on him, "We can and we have to. Look, it was one thing sitting around here picking daisies when we thought this place was supposed to be safe. But now we know it ain't."

Tyler took out a shotgun and a pistol and walked over to Glenn and Noah, saying to the asian man, "How about you, dude?" Although he was hesitant at first, Glenn took the shotgun from Tyler who looked at Noah held out a pistol towards him, "What about you, Noah?"

Noah took the pistol from Tyler as Maggie glared the jock and Shane, "Can you stop, both of you? You do this, you hand out these guns, my dad will make you leave tonight."

"We have to stay, Shane." Carl said, coming down the steps.

Lori approached the group, "What is this?"

"We ain't going anywhere, okay?" Shane assured Carl before turning his attention back to everyone else in the group, "Now look, Hershel, he's just gotta understand. Okay? He-well, he's gonna have to. Now we need to find Sophia. Am I right?" He walked over to Tyler and took out a pistol and came over to Carl, kneeling down in front of him, holding the pistol out to the kid, "Huh? Now I want you to take this. You take it, Carl, and you keep your mother safe. You do whatever it takes. You know how. Go on, take the the gun and do it."

Lori came over between them and pushed Carl away from Shane, glaring at him, "Rick said no guns. This is not your call. This is not your decision to make."

"Guys?' Alejandro's voice interrupted Shane before he could answer as everyone turned to him. He pointed at the forest, "Are you seeing what I am seeing?"

T-Dog was the first one to voice his thoughts, "Oh, shit."

"What the hell are they doing?" Heather asked shorty after.

Rick, Chris, Chef, Hershel and Jimmy stepped out from the forest. Jimmy, Chef and Chris were the first ones to step out, the youngest one from the three clapping his hands as Hershel and Rick stepped out shorty after. The walkers they found in the forest were with them. Rick and Hershel held them on the animal catching sticks as if they were dogs that they just found wandering around.

Shane instantly broke himself into run and everyone followed him, "What is that?"

"Shane!" Lori called out to him, running after Shane, but he simply ingored her.

Shane pushed the gate leading to the other side of the fence, quickly showing angered he was by the sight in front of him, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Relax, Shane." Chef said, coming up to Shane. At first they were going to make sure that their group will stay on this farm, and then they will make sure to take care of the problem of the walkers in the barn, "We're making sure that we'll stay on this farm."

"You're letting them do this?" Shane shouted at Chef, glaring at him, not even trying to hide how displeased he was by Chef's decisions today, "You said it yourself that you care about our group and want to keep everyone safe and now you're helping them bring more of them to this farm?"

"What do your people have guns?" Hershel damanded to know.

"Are you kidding me?" Shane asked, pointing at them, "You see? You see what they're holding onto?"

"I see who I'm holding onto." Hershel assured him,

Shane shook his head, "No, man, you don't."

"Shane." Chris said, "Just let us do this."

"And then we'll talk about this." Rick added.

"What you want to talk about?" Shane shouted, stopping ahead of everyone at the farm, meters away from the barn. Everyone had their eyes now him, "These things ain't sick. They're not people. They're dead. Ain't gonna feel nothing for them 'cause all they do, they kill! These things right here, they're the things that killed Amy and Lindsay. They killed Otis. They're gonna kill all of us!."

Tyler and Andrea nodded their heads, agreeing with what Shane was saying as Rick shouted to him, "Shane, shut up!"

"Hey, Hershel man, let me ask you something." Shane said, pulling out his pistol, "Could a living breathing person, could they walk away from this?"

He shot the walker that Hershel was holding a few times, and it was still moving, it wasn't even touched by the fact that it was shot a few times in the chest. Rick glared at Shane, "No! Stop it!"

"That's three rounds in the chest. Could someone who's alive,could they just take that?! Why is it still coming?" Shane demanded to know before shooting the walker two more times, "That's it's heart, it's lungs. Why is it still coming?"

"Shane, enough!" Rick demanded as Shane fired one more bullet at the walker.

Shane started approaching the walker that he just six times, "You're right, man. That is enough."

He finished the walker off with one last bullet to the head. The now lifeless body of a walker collapsed on the ground, bringing Hershel down on his knees. Everyone had their eyes on Shane and he made sure to use every second of it.

" **Enough risking our lives for a little girl who's gone**!" He shouted, " **Enough living next to a barn full of things that are trying to kill us. Enough. Rick, it ain't like it was before! Now if y'all want to live, if you want to survive, you got to fight for it! I'm talking about fighting right here, right now.** "

He turned away from everyone towards the barn and ran over to it, picking up a pickaxe that was laying nearby.

"Take the snare pole. Hershel, take the snare pole." Rick said to Hershel but he didn't listen to him. He just watched how Shane picked up a pickaxe, "Hershel, listen to me, man, please. Take it now. Hershel! Take it!"

Shane screamed as he started slamming the pickaxe against the entrance to the barn, intending to open it and get rid of the problem once and for all.

"No, Shane. Do not do this, brother." Rick pleaded Shane to not open the barn and many others people followed.

"Don't do this!" Glenn shouted.

"Don't open the door!" Bridgette shouted shorty after.

It was followed by Chef, "Just step away from the barn!"

Shane simply ignored them and proceeded to slam the pickaxe against the entrance to the barn until he finally managed to open them. He slammed his hands the now opened entrance, shouting, "Come on. Come on, we're out here."

"This is not the way! Please!" Rick shouted to his best friend for the last time.

Shane ignored it too. He took a few steps backwards and readied his pistol, aiming it at the entrance, awaiting for the walkers to step out, "Come on."

The entrance to the barn swung open and the first walker instantly came out, heading towards Shane. Andrea and Tyler quickly ran over to his side, as Shane got rid of the first walker that came out from the barn without any problem. Andrea and Tyler joined him and started shooting at them too, but they weren't the only ones. Duncan, Daryl, T-Dog, Izzy and Alejandro quickly joined them. The walkers began dropping like flies and didn't even had a chance to reach any of the survivors.

"Maggie." Glenn said to Maggie, unsure if he should join the other or not.

Maggie turned to look at him, with teary eyes as she just watched how her friends and family members were being killed right in front of her, "It's okay."

Glenn joined his group and started shooting at the walkers, and was quickly followed by Harold who was the last one to join. They proceeded to gun down every walker that came out for the barn and the members of the group that didn't join them just watched how the undead friends and family members of the Greene family were being gunned down by their fellow group members. Lori held her son close to herself, Rick, Chef and Chris shook their heads, Bridgette and Carol had their hands over their mouths and Hershel was just shaking his head.

Shane turned to his best friend who was glaring at him while holding the walker that he brought with him from the forest. He aimed his pistol at the walker, intending to finish it off once and for all, but someone else did it for him. Him and Rick turned in the direction of the person that just killed it and saw Tyler. The red clothed teenagers expression was set in stone as he simply turned back to the barn and proceeded to fire at any walker that appeared in his view.

Not even a minute had to pass until the barn was completely cleaned out from the walkers and the entire area was covered by now lifeless corpses. Shane turned his look away from the barn and looked at his at the group. He saw how almost everyone were glaring at him. He shrugged it off.

It was when Dale finally arrived at the farm and could only watch the scene in front of him in shock, having no idea what happened, but the corpses on the ground quickly gave him an idea.

It wasn't over.

A small figure emerged from the barn and looked up at the group. Everyone could see her face now.

It was Sophia...

Bridgette's eyes instantly widened in shock as she placed her hands on her head, DJ placed his hand over his mouth, Leshawna and Gwen exchanged looks, sharing looks of disbelief with each other, Ezekiel shook his head and placed his hands on his hat, Sierra, Owen, and Cody looked away, and Noah, and Courtney watched in shock. The other members of their group simply watched in shock or looked away, not wanting to see the little girl they knew from Atlanta in this state. The group that just killed every walker in the barn stood as if something froze them in place.

"Sophia!" Her mother immediately bursted into tears and pushed herself into run towards her daughter, only to be held back by Daryl, "...Sophia..."

Lori held her son even tighter to herself as Carl broke into tears in the exact moment when he spotted his friend as a walker. Duncan looked down, the little girl he's been searching for these past few days, almost dying by the hands of someone he knew before all of this was just found, but not in the way he wanted to. Chef and Chris shared shocked and uneasy looks with each other as Rick let out another deep breath after another.

Sophia let out a small growl and started walking towards the group, almost tripping over one of the bodies.

Lori could feel how tears started coming into her eyes as she whispered to her son, "Don't watch."

Rick let out one last deep breath before stepping forward from the group. He walked past everyone that just killed all of these walkers and stopped right in front of Sophia. He aimed his Python at the little girl and looked at her for one last time, seeing how her lifeless eyes were not leaving him.

He pressed the trigger and his Python fired, the bullet hitting Sophia right in her head. The now lifeless corpse of a little girl collapsed on the ground.

But it wasn't over. Everyone could hear another footsteps coming out from the barn as another walker slowly exited it. This walker was a woman. Most of the group didn't know who she was but Chris, Chef, and the contestants from Total Drama instantly recognized her and knew how important she was to one of them.

DJ's lips trembled as he immediately bursted into tears and fell on his knees, whispering a shaky and tearful, "...Momma..."

Everyone turned to look at him. The people who knew him and knew about his beloved mother looked at him him in pity as DJ lowered his head, not wanting to see his mother in this state, placing his hands over his eyes, sobbing his eyes out.

Chef sighed. He knew that he couldn't leave DJ's mother in this state for any second longer and stepped forward from the group, pulling out his handgun. He stopped right next to Rick and in front of DJ's Momma who was slowly approaching them, letting out grunts and growls every second as she did so.

"I'm sorry, DJ." He said to DJ before aiming his handgun at DJ's Momma. He pulled the trigger and one bullet to the head was enough to take DJ's Momma's down and her lifeless body collapsed on the ground, landing next to Sophia's.


	14. Nebraska

Rick and Chef stared at the lifeless bodies of Sophia and DJ's Momma in front of them, hearing the sobbing of the Greene's, Carol and DJ behind them. The sheriff deputy turned to look at his group and saw his wife who was still holding their sobbing son, Hershel who was still on his knees, Maggie who was comforting her father, and sobbing Beth who was being comforted by Jimmy.

"Don't look." Daryl said to crying Carol, bringing her back to her feet. She pushed him away and started walking away from the group, away from the barn, away from the corpse of her daughter.

"DJ..." Bridgette said, coming closer to DJ, intending to place a comforting hand on his shoulder. He didn't let her. He stood up from his knees and turned to walk away.

"I need to be alone for now." He said, not even looking at her, or at anyone from the group. He just walked away, wanting to be alone for now.

"Mom!" Beth cried out pushed herself into run towards one of the corpses. Rick tried to stop her from approaching it but she pushed away. She kneeled down in front of the body of her mother and some other man who laid on top of her. She gently pushed the body of the man off her mother before pushing her mother onto her back to see her face.

Just seconds after that, her mother let out a growl and started reaching towards her. She screamed in fear when her mother grasped her shoulder as Chef quickly went over to her and started pulling her away from the undead. He was quickly joined by Shane, Rick, Jimmy, Maggie and Glenn who quickly managed to pull her away from her zombified mother.

Alejandro who quickly pulled his tomahawk from the slot on his belt made sure to take care of Beth's undead mother. He went over to the walker, stabbing the undead in the back of it's head, finishing it off for good. The teen grunted and pulled his tomahawk from it's head while Hershel took both of his daughters to his side and began to lead them away from the barn towards their house which Shane didn't fail to notice. He quickly followed them and Rick followed him to make sure his best friend wasn't going to make things worse than they already are. Glenn followed them too.

"We've been out. We've been combing these woods looking for her and she was in there all along?" Shane demanded to know, following Hershel and his family with Rick, "You knew?"

Maggie glared at him, "Leave us alone."

"Hey, Shane." Rick said, trying to stop Shane, "Just stop, man."

Ignoring Rick, Shane continued, "You knew and you kept it from us."

Hershel didn't even look at Shane when he replied, "I didn't know."

"That's bullshit." Shane stated, "I think y'all knew."

Maggie repeated her father's words, loudly, anger evident in her voice, "We didn't know!"

"Why was she there?!" Shane once again demanded to know.

Hershel stopped right in front of the steps to the porch of his house and turned to look at him, "Otis put those people in the barn. Maybe he found her and put her in there before he was killed."

"You expect me to believe that?" Shane asked, not believing in a single word that left Hershel's mouth, "Do I look like an idiot?"

"I don't care what you believe!" Hershel shouted.

"Everybody just calm down." Rick tried to calm both of the sides down, but it didn't work, just like he excepted.

Hershel pointed at Shane, "Get him off my land!"

"Let me tell you something..." Shane tried to say, coming closer to Hershel.

"Don't touch him!" Maggie slapped Shane across his cheek, stopping and shushing him, "Haven't you done enough?"

"I mean it." Hershel said, turning away from towards the entrance to his house, "Off my land."

He and his family walked up the stairs before entering their house. Shane, Rick and Glenn exchanged a look with themselves before the asian man entered the house as well, leaving Shane and Rick with themselves.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Rick quickly asked his friend what was on his mind since Shane opened the barn.

"Daryl and Duncan almost died looking for her, Rick. Any of us could have." Shane pointed out, pointing at Hershel's house, "I'm gonna tell you right now, that son of a bitch, he knew."

"He didn't know." Rick shook his head, disagreeing with Shane, "He's not like that. He opened his home to us."

"Put us all in danger." Shane stated, "Man, he kept a barn full of walkers."

"So you just start an insurrection, hand out guns and massacre his family?" Rick retorted.

"His family's dead, Rick." Shane pointed out.

"Well, he doesn't believe that." Rick explained, "He thinks you just murdered them in cold blood."

Shane shook his head, "No, man, I don't care what he thinks."

"I was handling it, brother. I, Chris and Chef. We were all handling it and you just..." Rick didn't even had chance to finish what he was saying.

Shane cut him off with a snort, "You had us out in those woods looking for a little girl that every single one of us knew was dead! That's what you did. Rick, you're just as delusional as that guy."

* * *

Chef sighed as he placed a sheet over the lifeless body of DJ's Momma. He turned his gaze away from her now covered body to Duncan who had just finished placing a sheet over Sophia's body. He shared a quick look with the juvie who rose up from his knees and turned towards the barn, starting to walk towards it.

He turned away from the juvie and saw Bridgette, Gwen and Leshawna approaching him. He send the other teens to check on DJ and Carol to see how they were doing right now after what happened with the barn, even though the answer seemed quite obvious, "How's DJ?"

Bridgette sighed sadly, looking down at the cook, "He is sobbing his eyes out in one of our tents. We tried to talk with him, but he didn't respond to any of our calls."

"I'll try to talk with him in a few hours." Chef said to which Bridgette nodded her head in understanding, "What about Carol?"

"Daryl tried to talk with her, but she just like DJ remained unresponsive." Bridgette explained, her mind still trying to process the fact that Sophia's was right under their nosses in the barn, and that DJ's Momma was in the barn as well, "Daryl's not taking this very well too."

"Like we all are." Chef said, sadly, to which Bridgette could only give a small sad nod in agreement.

"What happens now?" Gwen wanted to know.

"We bury both of them." Chef answered, standing up from the ground, referring to Sophia and DJ's Momma, "And the closest people to Hershel's family."

"And then what?" Leshawna asked.

"I wish I knew the answer to this question." Chef shrugged his shoulders, "There is a huge posibility that we may get kicked out from this place after what Shane did. I, Chris and Rick helped Hershel bring more walkers to this barn because we wanted to convice him to let us stay on his farm. After that we'd take care of the problem of the walkers in the barn, but now, considering what happened, I'm not exactly sure."

They turned to in the direction of the barn when they heard someone sigh. They saw Duncan who sat down on the ground, leaning against the barn, staring sadly into the sky.

Courtney approached him, "Duncan."

The juvie shook his head at her, "I thought I'd find her, princess."

The CIT sat down next to him and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, "Don't blame yourself for what happened. You did everything you could."

Rick made his way back to the barn, observing all of the bodies around him when he heard T-Dog who stood with Andrea, Tyler, Alejandro and Heather ask him, "You want us to start burying?"

"We need a service. Carol would want that." Andrea stated.

T-Dog nodded his head in agreement, "Yeah, we all want that."

"We should dig a grave for Sophia, DJ's Momma, Annette and Shawn." Chef stated, pointing at the trees not too far from the barn, "Over by those trees."

"And we'll need a truck to move the bodies." Tyler stated.

Jimmy took a quick glance at the trees that Chef pointed at, "I'll get the keys."

"No, no." Shane shook his head at him, beginning to walk away to get the truck, "I got the truck."

"And the others?" Jimmy asked, turning to look at the corpses, "That's a lot of digging."

"We bury the ones we love and burn the rest." Alejandro explained, "Just like we did in Atlanta."

Chef eyed everyone gathered around the barn as Chris approached his fellow host, "Let's get to work, soldiers."

Everyone went off to take care of their job. Duncan, Courtney, Bridgette, Leshawna, and Gwen went back to the camp, while Jimmy, Andrea, T-Dog, Alejandro and Tyler made sure to take care of the bodies.

The co-host of Total Drama waited until everyone will leave to do their job before walking over to Rick with Chris, asking him, "What did Hershel say?"

Rick sighed, "He wants us off the farm, or Shane at least."

* * *

Carol watched throught the window of the RV how Shane, Tyler, Alejandro, Andrea and Jimmy were digging graves for her little girl, DJ's Momma, and the members of Hershel family when she heard someone enter the RV. She and Daryl turned to look at the person and saw Duncan who sighed and gave her a pitful look before walking over to the younger Dixon, stopping by his side.

Lori was right behind the juvie. She stayed outside for several more seconds to tell Owen to find DJ and tell him about something to which the overweighted teenager nodded his head before heading out towards the tent where DJ was.

She watched Owen walk away before entering the RV, telling her, "They're ready. Come on."

Carol shook her head, letting out a depressed, "Why?"

"Cause that's your daughter." Daryl said as gently as he could.

"Your little girl." Duncan added.

Carol shifted her glances between all three of them, "That's not my little girl. That's some other thing. My Sophia was alone in the woods. All this time I thought...she didn't cry herself to sleep. She didn't go hungry. She didn't try to find her way back. Sophia died a long time ago."

Lori, Daryl and Duncan all stared at the short haired woman for a moment, having no idea what to say to her. Lori came out of the RV without saying a word. Daryl was quick to follow her, letting out a sigh. The juvie came out of the RV as well, despise entering this vehicle several seconds ago.

DJ finally brought himself to come out of the tent, rubbing the tear marks off his cheeks. He started heading out from the camp. He knew that the others were worried about him, Bridgette, Gwen and Leshawna told him about that when they tried to talk with him, but for now, he just didn't feel like talking with anyone.

Only a moment after leaving the camp, he saw a vehicle heading out from the farm. His group didn't own a car like this one so, it must have belonged to the Greene's. He went over to it to ask what was going on and saw the driver.

"Hershel?" He asked, "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to get drunk." Hershel said, not even hiding his intentions from the teenager.

DJ bit his lips. It took him a few moments before he brought himself to say this. He knew that his Momma wouldn't like this, but his Momma was dead. He wanted something to make him not think about it, even for a second, "Would you mind if I came with you?"

Hershel stared at DJ for a second. DJ was definitely not old enough to drink, but the kid just lost his mother. He opened the passenger seat in the front for him, saying, "Get in."

DJ entered the vehicle and both of them drove off towards a certain bar that Hershel had in his mind. The teenager didn't saw that Owen entered the tent to inform him that the body of his Momma was about to get burried under the ground. The overweighted teenager ran out of the tent and made his way over to the nearest person which happened to Izzy and informed his girlfriend that DJ was gone.

* * *

Tyler grabbed the corpse by it's shoulders, sharing a quick look with Alejandro who grabbed it by it's legs. They lifted it up from the ground and started carrying it towards Otis' blue truck. They were right behind Andrea and T-Dog who just placed another body in the back of the truck, before moving aside to give two teenagers enough space to move around.

"We got lucky." Andrea stated, as Tyler and Alejandro placed the body in the back of the truck on top of another body, "If that barn had any more, we could've been overrun."

T-Dog wiped his hands on his pants, "Good thing that Shane did what he did, when he did."

"I couldn't have said it better myself, amigo." Alejandro nodded his head in agreement.

"At least I won't have to worry about the walkers digging their teeth into my neck while I'll be sleeping." Heather stated, standing next to the driver seat.

Dale looked at them, "You can't tell me this was right."

"It wasn't." Rick stated, "It'll cost us with Hershel."

"Maybe it was, maybe it's wasn't, but I don't have seconds thoughts about this. Walkers in my backyard?" Alejandro shook his head at Dale, pointing at the bodies in the back of the truck, "No. Just, no."

"What else were we supposed to do?" Tyler asked Rick, clearly displeased by Rick's actions, "What Shane did was right. He knows how to keep our group safe. Unlike you. You've been in Atlanta. You've been in your camp when it was attacked. You know how dangerous the walkers are. You know how dangerous the world became to all of us, and yet, despise that all of that, you didn't do anything about Hershel delusions and let him believe that the walkers are just sick people. You put all of us in danger by making us live with a barn full of walkers in our backyard, and kept us gunless while doing so."

"Tyler." Dale said to the jock, "I think that's enough..."

Rick opened his mouth to speak but Tyler continued, coming closer to the sheriff deputy. He wanted Rick to hear what he had to say to him, "How many more of us have to die before you'll understand how to keep our group safe?

* * *

Noah watched from the porch how the blue truck drove through the fields of the farm. T-Dog and Heather sat in the front seats while Tyler, Andrea and Alejandro sat in the back, a few inches away from the lifeless bodies of the walkers from the barn. He normally would have his nose burried in one of his books, but he didn't feel like reading right now, considering everything tthat had happened today.

He stood up from the chair made his way into the house, quickly spotting Glenn who was leaning against the wall, watching over Maggie who was talking with Beth.

The asian man turned to see who just entered the house and saw him, offering the bookworm a quick, "Hey."

Noah offered him a simple "Hey." in response.

"So..." Glenn paused for a moment, trying to think of something to say to the bookworm, "How do you feel about all of this?"

"I don't know." Noah answered, "I've seen walkers before. I've seen the people I knew die by their hands over these past few months, but this is the first time when I saw a kid as one of them, and worst of all, it was Sophia."

"You wanted our group to find her?" Glenn asked him another question.

"What kind of question is that, Glenn?" Noah asked, raising his voice a bit, looking suprised that Glenn even asked him this question, "Of course I wanted our group to find her! I may have stayed on the highway when most of the group went looking for her, and I may be sarcastic and cynical for most of the time but I do care about people in our group, even though I may not showing it that much."

"I'm sorry." Glenn apologized, shaking his head, "It was a dumb question. I'm just still trying to get my head over wGat happened today."

Before Noah could answer to Glenn's apology, Maggie turned away from her sister and approached them. She looked at Glenn and took a deep breath, bracing herself to ask this question that had to be asked, sooner or later, "So if your group leaves, you wouldn't stay?"

"I-I hadn't really thought about it." Glenn stuttered out in response, "I mean, I-I didn't know that-do-do you think this is really the time...to discuss this, I mean?"

"Well, I'm not really feeling like there's a lot of time for anything." Maggie stated.

Glenn stepped towards her, "No no, there-there is. There is. I mean, I-I-I want..."

He was cut off by the sound of someone collapsing on the floor. It came straight from the kitchen. Glenn, Maggie and Noah all quickly went into the kitchen and saw Beth laying on the floor.

"Oh my gosh..." Maggie gasped, kneeling down in front of her sister.

"Guys!" Bridgette shouted as she ran into the house. She made her way over to Glenn, Noah, Maggie and Beth having no idea what just happened, "Have you seen DJ? We can't find..."

"No, we haven't. seen him. " Noah shook his head as Bridgette paused when she saw Beth laying of the floor, "But there's something else we should take care of now."

A look of concern grew on Bridgette's face, "What's wrong with her? Is she in some state of shock?""

"I think so." Maggie answered, giving a quick panicked nod of her head, starting to lift her sister up from the floor, "We should lay her down on a bed."

Bridgette went over to Maggie, "Let me help."

Maggie nodded her head to the surfers words and both of them lifted Beth up from the floor.

* * *

Maggie and Bridgette laid Beth on the bed and made sure to take of her while Glenn and Noah tried to find Hershel but the eldery farmer was nowhere to be found which just added another problem to their list along with the fact that DJ was gone too. The blond haired girl remained unresponsive to any of the words that were said to her and staring at the ceiling was the only thing she did.

As for now, Rick, Lori, Shane, Chef, Chris, Glenn, Noah and Maggie were gathered in one of the rooms in the house. Bridgette decided to stay in Beth's room just in case if something happened.

Rick touched some of the thins in the box, before glancing up at Maggie, "Your stepmother's things?"

Maggie nodded her head in confirmation, "He was so sure she'd recover. They'd just pick up where they left off."

Something caught Shane's attention on the cupboard. He reached out to grab it and his suspicions turned out to be true. It was a flask. He showed it off to everyone, "Looks like he found an old friend."

He threw the flask to Rick who caught it and handed it to Maggie who eyed it carefully, "That belonged to my grandfather, gave it to dad when he died."

"I didn't took him for a drinker." Chris stated.

Maggie shook her head at Chris' words, "No, he gave it up on the day I was born. He didn't even allow liquor in the house."

"What's the bar in town?" Rick asked her.

"Hatlin's." Maggie answered, "He practically lived there in his drinking days."

"Betting that's where I'll find him." Rick stated.

"And DJ." Chef said, earning everyone's attention, "I followed his tracks from the tent. They suddenly stopped on the road leading out from the farm. He must have come across Hershel and tag along with him."

"Do you think this is where we'll find him?" Lori asked, referring to DJ.

Chef shrugged his shoulders, "This is our only lead so far."

"I know where that bar is." Glenn spoke up, "I'll take you there."

"All right," Rick nodded his head, turning to towards the exit, "I'll get the car."

"Okay." Glenn gave a nod of his head in return, stepping forward to follow the sheriff deputy.

He was stopped by Maggie, "No."

"It's an easy run." Glenn assured her.

"Like the pharmacy?" Maggie pointed out.

"Don't worry, girl." Chef said, placing an assuring hand on Maggie's shoulder as Rick walked out of the room, followed by Lori and Shane, "He'll come back in one piece. I and Rick will make sure of that."

"Rick?" Lori called out to her husband, following him out of the room. He stopped in the middle of hallway and turned to look at her, "You want to have a conversation about this before you leave?"

Shane approached them, "So you're seriously gonna go after DJ and this guy with everything that's going on, huh? You know you can always send someone else with Chef and Glenn?"

"He's right." Lori agreed with Shane, "This is not the time to head off,not today. You don't know what's have..."

Rick cut his wife off, "I'm not arguing. It's the least I can do for Hershel after we..."

"What?" Shane cut his best friend off, already knowing to which he was going to referr to, walking past him and Lori, "After we what?"

Lori watched Shane leave for a second before turning back to her husband, "Carl said he would've shot Sophia himself. That's your son. He's getting cold. He's growing up in a world with-he's growing up in a world where he needs a father like you-around,alive,not running off,solving everybody else's problems."

"It's not just his problem I'm trying to solve. We need Hershel for the baby." Rick pointed out, shushing his wife, "I'm going after him."

* * *

A few minutes later Rick stood in front of the farm house with a car that everyone related to Total Drama got from the gas station which they were going to use in their search for Maggie's father and DJ. He saw how the entrance to the farm house was opened and Chris and Chef stepped out, followed by Glenn and Maggie. The two hosts moved down the steps towards him while Maggie and Glenn stayed on the porch for a second.

Chef stopped in front of Rick and titled his head towards Chris, "Pretty boy is coming with us."

Rick nodded his head to that, turning to Chris, "We could use one more person to help us."

Chris nodded his head in response as they turned to look at Glenn and Maggie who walked down the steps and shared a quick kiss, making the sheriff deputy and the two hosts turn away the pair. Glenn tightened his grip around his shotgun and turned away from Maggie towards Rick, Chef and Chris and started walking towards them.

"You ready, soldier?" Chef asked the asian man.

"Yeah." Glenn said with a quick nod of his head.

Rick got himself into the car and sat in the drivers seat as Glenn took the passenger seat next to him while Chef and Chris took the seats in the back. Rick started the engine, bringin the car back to life before driving away.

* * *

DJ let out a long sigh after taking his first sip of a drink that Hershel poured him, trying to get rid of the sour taste in his mouth. This drink turned out to be more sourer than he excepted. It took him a few moments to get used to it this taste, and when he finally did, he simply stopped paying attention to that.

"...And then after our bus crashed in the abyss." DJ said as Hershel refilled their glasses, "She went out with Geoff, Trent, Eva, Katie, Sadie, Beth and Justin to get help."

"Was it the last time when you saw her?" Hershel asked him.

"Yeah." DJ sighed sadly, "The fact that all of this began only a few days later makes this whole thing feel like it was a thousand of years ago."

"What about your father?" Hershel asked him another question, "Have you meet him?"

DJ was silent for a few seconds before shaking his head, "No. My Momma was the only parent I have ever had."

"Do you know anything about him?" Hershel stopped for a second to take a sip of his drink, "Like his name?"

"No. My Momma never spoke much about him and I can't really blame her for that." DJ shook his head, once again, "What about your dad?"

Hershel refilled his glass, replying, "My father liked to use his fists to show me how he felt. When he died, I did not go for him, and that is something I will never regret."

DJ nodded his head in understanding. He didn't had to ask more about Hershel's father. He was already aware that he must have been not a pleasant person.

"DJ." Hershel said. He felt like he had to ask this question to someone, considering that he was on his farm since the beginning, "How were the first days of all of this on the road?"

DJ sighed. He understood why Hershel would ask him this question. The old man was on his farm since this begun, "The day when I saw my first walker was one of the scariest days of my life. The screams of the people in Atlanta when the army dropped napalms into the city was just horrifying. It was hard for everyone that thought about taking shelter in Altanta, like we did. We found some other people and created a camp outside of the city and lived there for a few months."

Hershel just nodded his head to DJ's answer, before taking another sip of his drink, "Is the world outside of my farm really as bad as Rick says it is?

DJ opened his mouth to respond but was cut off when the two heard a car stop outside of the bar. The teenager turned to the doors and saw Rick entering the bar. He wasn't alone. Chef, Chris and Glenn were right behind him. Chef and Glenn held their shotgun in ready while Chris' moved his Glock around the bar, looking around to see if there any walkers around.

It was when they spotted Hershel and DJ. It made Chris, Chef and Glenn lower their guns as Rick moved towards them, "Hershel, DJ."

"Who's with you?" Hershel asked.

"Chef, Chris and Glenn." Rick explained as he walked up to the eldery farmer and leaned up on the counter next to him, "How many have you had?"

"Not enough." Heshel replied.

"DJ." Chef said, walking over to the teenager, relieved that his suspicion turned out be real and DJ indeed went with Hershel, "There you are. We were worried about you. You just disappeared from the farm."

"I know that I should have tell you someone that I'll be gone for a few hours, but you didn't had to worry about me." DJ answered, turning back to look at Chef and Chris who slowly approached him. He had to admit it to himself. He could have tell someone from the group that he'll be gone for a few before leaving with Hershel. "I'd return by the end of the day."

"How many drinks did you had?" Chris asked, leaning against the counter.

"I didn't had many." DJ told him, pointing at his glass, "This is my third one. I came here with Hershel to forget about the body of my Momma. I wanted to stop thinking about it, even if it would last only a second."

"Did it help you?" Chef asked the teenager another question that was on his and Chris' mind.

DJ thought for a second before answering. He came here to forget about seeing the body of his mother, even if it would last a few seconds, but considering that he and Hershel spend their entire time here talking about their families, the answer was quite obvious. He have them a quick and silent shook of his head in response.

Chef placed a comforting hand on DJ's shoulder, "We already burried your Momma. We can take you back to the farm so you can pay your respects to her and say goodbye."

DJ nodded his head. This will be the first thing he'll do when he'll return to the farm. Saying goodbye to his Momma was something he just had to do.

"Let's finish this up back at home." Rick whispered to Hershel, "Beth collapsed, is in some sort of state. Must be in shock. I think you are too."

"Maggie's with her?" Hershel asked him.

"Yeah." Rick nodded his head, "But Beth needs you."

Hershel remained silent for a few seconds, toying with his glass, "What could I do? She needs her mother. Or rather to mourn like she should've done weeks ago. I robbed her of that. I see that now."

"You thought there was a cure." Rick tried to reason with him, "Can't blame yourself for holding out for hope."

"Hope?" Hershel chuckled and took a sip of his drink, "When I first saw you running across my field with your boy in your arms, I had little hope he would survive."

"But he did." Rick stated.

"He did." Hershel nodded his head, "He did. Even though we lost Otis. Your man Shane made it back and we saved your boy. That was the miracle that proved to me miracles do exist. Only it was a sham,a bait and switch. I was a fool,Rick,and you people saw that. My daughters deserve better than that."

He began to pour himself another glass. He turned to look at DJ to see if the teenager needed to have his glass refilled as well, but turned away when he spotted that DJ's glass was full while Rick, Chef and Chris walked back to Glenn, forming a circle.

"So what do we do?" Glenn asked.

"We don't need to worry about DJ." Chef answered, "He'll return to the farm with us."

"We need to worry about Chris." Chris added to which Chef nodded in agreement.

"Should we just wait for him to pass out?" Glenn asked.

"Just go." Hershel shouted as he turned to face them, "Just go!"

Rick turned back to Hershel, "We promised Maggie we'd bring you home safe."

Hershel chuckled, "Like you promised that little girl?"

"So what's your plan?" Rick asked, storming towards the bar, "Finish that bottle? Drink yourself to death and leave your girls alone?"

Hershel stood up from his seat, "Stop telling me how to care for my family, my farm. You people are like a plague! I do the Christian thing, give you shelter,and you destroy it all!"

"The world was already in bad shape when we met." Rick pointed out.

"And you take no responsibility! You're supposed to be their leader!" Hershel shouted in return.

"Well, I'm here now, aren't I?" Rick shouted, losing his cool.

"Yes." Hershel sat back down on his seat, "Yes, you are."

"Now come on." Rick said, placing his hand on Hershel's shoulder, "Your girls need you now more than ever."

Hershel brushed his hand away and turned back to look at Rick again, "I didn't want to believe you. I didn't even want to believe Chef, or even Chris when I saw their expressions when we started bringing Lou to my farm. You told me there was no cure, that these people were dead, not sick. I chose not to believe that. But when Shane shot Lou in the chest and she just kept coming,that's when I knew what an ass I'd been, that Annette, or Shawn, or even DJ's mother had been dead long ago and I was feeding a rotten corpse! That's when I knew there was no hope. And when that little girl came out of the barn,the look on your face. I knew you knew it too. Right? There is no hope. And you know it now,like I do. Don't you? There is no hope for any of us."

"Hershel." DJ stood up from his seat and walked over to Hershel, "They're right. We should head back to the farm."

Hershel turned to DJ and shook his head, "Not you too."

"Just listen to what I have to say." DJ said as gently as he could, "I know this day was hard for you. It was hard for me too, and I know what you're feeling right now. But, you still have family out there. You still have someone you can look after to. You can be there for your daughter now, in the moment when they need you the most. You can be with them, for as long and you'll be able to."

"Look, I'm done. I'm not doing this anymore, cleaning up after you." Rick said, not even giving Hershel a chance to reply to DJ's words, " You know what the truth is? Nothing has changed. Death is death. It's always been there,whether it's from a heart attack, cancer, or a walker. What's the difference? You didn't think it was hopeless before, did you? Now there are people back at home trying to hang on. They need us, even if it's just to give them a reason to go on,even if we don't believe it ourselves. You know what? This-this isn't about what we believe anymore. It's about them."

Hershel was silent. He grabbed his glass and took one last sip of his drink. He slammed now empty glass on the counter as DJ smiled at the farmer as Rick gave him a pat on his back.

They suddenly heard someone open the door. All six of them turned to look at it only to see two men enter the bar.

The muscular man in a tank top on the right turned to his overweighted friend who was wearing a simple white shirt and a hat and said, "Son of a bitch. They're alive."

Rick, Chef, Chris and Glenn all readied their guns, but didn't point them at the strangers. The man on the right quickly raised his hands in the air, "Whoa, chill out, all of you. We didn't came here to cause any trouble."

"That's right." The overweighted man agreed with his friend, "If we wanted to attack you, woukdn't we have already done that?"

The skinnier man on the right took a few steps forward, picking up a dusty glass from the table, "Is this place yours?"

"No." Chef shook his head, "We're just passing by."

"Good, because." The skinnier one sat down on one of the chairs, "Me and my friend here could use a little drink. Would you mind if we poured ourselves a glass or two?"

He pointed at the one of the vodka bottles on the shelves. Chris pointed at one of the bottles to which the man nodded in confirmation. The host of Total Drama grabbed the bottle and handed it to the man who unscrewed the lid and poured everyone a glass.

"My name is Dave." The man who introduced himself as Dave turned to look at his overweighted friend, "That scrawny-looking douche bag there is Tony."

Tony laughed, "Eat me, Dave."

"Hey, maybe someday I will." Dave laughed at his own joke, "We met on I-95 coming out of Philly. Damn shit-show that was."

"I'm Glenn." Glenn introduced himself to them with a smile, "It's nice to meet new people."

"Rick Grimes." Rick introduced himself shorty after.

Chef was the next one to introduce himself, "Chef Hatchet."

"Chris McLean." Chris introduced himself right after Chef.

"Devon Joseph, but friends call me DJ." DJ was the last one to introduce himself. He turned to look at Hershel who remained silent. He just kept staring at them.

Dave looked at Hershel, "How about you, pal? Have one?"

"I just quit." Hershel shook his head in response.

"You've got a unique sense of timing, my friend." Dave grinned.

"His name is Hershel." Rick introduced Hershel to them, "He lost someone today, and so did DJ."

"I'm truly sorry to hear that." Dave's grin faded from his face. He shifted his glances between Hershel and DJ, actually looking sorry for them after hearing this information from Rick. He raised his glass in the air, "To better days and new friends. And to our dead."

Rick, Chef, Chris, Glenn and Tony all nodded their heads at his words, before all of them took a quick sip of vodka from their glasses, DJ just gave a quick nod of his head in response, deciding not to drink and Hershel just proceeded to stare at Dave and Tony.

Dave set his glass down and pointed at Chris, "You."

"Me?" Chris asked, setting down his glass on the counter, "What about me?"

"I think I saw you somewhere before, both of you." Dave explained, as he pointed at Chef, "Were you in TV before all of this happened?"

"We were." Chris nodded his head in confirmation, a bit suprised that Dave didn't recognize DJ as well, "Total Drama."

"Total Drama. I never saw a single episode of this show. I saw you on the news. Never was a big fan of reality shows." Dave said as he turned to look at Tony, "How about you, Tony?"

Tony shook his head, "That makes the two of us, but I recall one of from our group telling us that one of his friends from his time in the juvie was in this show."

"Speaking of the guy that Tony mentioned." Dave said, seeing in Rick's group an opportunity to ask about the whereabouts of one person from their group, "Would you happen to come across someone named Timothy?"

"A friend of yours?" Glenn asked.

Dave nodded his head in confirmation, "Yeah. We haven't seen him in days."

Rick, Hershel, Glenn, DJ and Chris had no idea who this Timothy was and shook their heads, but Chef actually froze for a second after hearing Dave mention this name. It couldn't be this Timothy that he had to kill to stop him from killing Duncan when the juvie was searching for Sophia, right?

He had to be sure, "Can you explain to us how he looks like?"

Dave nodded his head, "He is around DJ's age, has blond hair. Wears brown jacket, blue jeans and black boots. At least this was what he wore when I saw him for the last time."

Now Chef was certain that they were talking about the Timothy that was on his mind. Duncan told him about the things that Timothy admitted about his group after the juvie declined his offer when they were walking back to Hershel's farm. He knew that he had to watch out for Dave and Tony.

He shook his head at him, lying, "I'm sorry but we haven't seen anyone matching his description."

Dave sighed, "That would be a damn shame if something happened to him. He's a good kid that knows how to care of himself. He became a valuable member of our group after he joined us."

He reached out to pour himself another glass of vodka. Chef spotted something in his waistband. It was a pistol. Dave stopped and saw Chef staring at his pistol. He decided to pull it out and show it off to everyone, "Not bad, huh? I got it off a cop."

"I'm a cop." Rick said.

Dave grinned, putting his pistol in his pocket, "This one was already dead."

"You two are a long way from Philadelphia." Chef stated.

"It feels like we're a long way from anywhere." Dave pointed out.

"Well, what drove you south?" Rick asked.

Dave rubbed his forehead, "Well,I can tell you it wasn't the weather. I must've dropped 30 LBS. In sweat alone down here."

Tony rolled his eyes, "I wish."

"No, first it was DC." Dave said, "I heard there might be some kind of refugee camp, but the roads were so jammed, we never even got close."

"We almost made it to the refugee camp in Atlanta." Chris said, as Dave titled his head at him, curious, "At the end of that night I was actually quite relieved that we didn't made it there."

"I heard that the army threw napalm into that city." Tony said.

"They did." Chris nodded his head in confirmation, "I, Chef and DJ could only watch it happen from the distance."

Dave nodded his head in understanding, continuing, "We decided to get off the highways, into the sticks, keep hauling ass. Every group we came across had a new rumor about a way out of this thing."

"One guy told us there was the coast guard sitting in the gulf,sending ferries to the islands." Tony added.

"The latest was a rail yard in Montgomery running trains to the middle of the country-Kansas, Nebraska." Dave explained.

"Nebraska?" DJ asked.

Tony chuckled, "Low population, lots of guns."

"Kinda makes sense." Glenn stated.

"Ever been to Nebraska, kid?" Dave asked DJ and Glenn who shook their heads, "A reason they call 'em flyover states. How about you guys?"

"Fort Benning, eventually." Rick answered.

"I hate to piss in your cornflakes, officer,but..." Dave paused for a second, "We ran across a grunt who was stationed at Benning. He said the place was overrun by lamebrains."

"Fort Benning is gone?" Glenn asked, wanting to be sure if he didn't misheard it, "Are you for real?"

"Sadly, I am." Dave confirmed with a nod of his head.

Chef sighed, "I guess it leaves us with no destination right now."

"I'd drink to that, my friend if I didn't had an empty glass." Dave said, "To be honest I'm not exactly sure if there is a way out from this mees. Just keep going from one pipe dream to the next, praying one of these mindless freaks doesn't grab ahold of you when you sleep."

"If you sleep." Tony added.

"Yeah." Dave agreed with him, "it doesn't look like you guys are hanging your hats here. You holed up somewhere else?"

Rick shook his head, "Not really."

"Those your cars out front?" Dave asked.

"Yes." Chef confirmed, coming up with a quick, "We use them to move around and have been living in them for over a month right now."

"I wouldn't say that." Dave shook his head, "You see, we're living in ours. Those look kinda empty,clean. Where's all your gear?"

"We're with a larger group out scouting." Hershel said, "Thought we could use a drink."

"A drink? Hershel, I thought you quit." Dave smiled, "Well, we're thinking of setting up around here. Is it-is it safe?"

"I wouln't say this place safe." Chef answered, trying to make Dave and Tony leave, "I recently almost died because of the walkers."

"Walkers?" Dave asked, "That what you call them?"

Glenn nodded his head, "Yeah."

"Someone in our group started calling them like that, and we just followed." DJ added.

"That's good." Dave stated, "I like that better than lamebrains."

Tony nodded his head to that, "More succinct."

"So what-so what, you guys set up on the outskirts or something? That new development?" Dave asked.

"Trailer park or something?" Tony asked, standing up from his seat. He walked across the bar, "A farm?"

Dave sang " _Old McDonald had a farm._ ", making Tony laugh, before asking, "You got a farm?"

No one answered his question. The only thing that could be heard in the room was the sound of Tony pissing on the wall, making everyone send him an awkward glance.

"Is it safe?" Tony asked.

"It's gotta be." Dave stated, "You got food, water?"

"You got cooze?" Tony asked, looking at them over his shoulder, "Ain't had a piece of ass in weeks."

"Listen, pardon my friend." Dave said, "City kids, they got no tact. No disrespect. So listen, Glenn..."

"We've said enough." Chef said, sternly, crossing his arms.

"Well, hang on a second. This farm, it sounds pretty sweet." Dave stated, turning to look at his friend, "Don't it sound sweet, Tony?"

The overweighted man nodded in agreement, tightening his belt and turning around to look at the rest, "Yeah, real sweet."

"How about a little southern hospitality?" Dave asked, "We got some buddies back at camp,b een having a real hard time. I don't see why you can't make room for a few more. We can pool our resources, our manpower."

"Look, I'm sorry." Rick said, exchanging a look with Chef, "That's not an option."

"Doesn't sound like it'd be a problem." Dave stated.

"I'm sorry. We can't." Hershel told them.

Chris looked at Chef who nodded his head at him. The host of Total Drama shook his head, "I don't think that we can take more people in."

Dave chuckled, "You guys are something else. I thought-I thought we were friends. We got people we gotta look out for to."

"We don't know anything about you." Rick pointed out.

"No, that's true." Dave nodded his head, "You don't know anything about us. You don't know what we've had to go through out there,the things we've had to do."

Chef glared at him, the things that Duncan found out from Timothy popping into his mind. He thought to himself, " _I'm certain that you enjoyed some of those things._ "

Dave continued, "I bet you've had to do some of those same things yourself. Am I right? 'Cause ain't nobody's hands clean in what's left of this world. We're all the same. So come on, let's-let's take a nice friendly hayride to this farm and we'll get to know each other"

Rick looked down at his glass and shook his head, "That's not gonna happen."

Tony shook his head, glaring at Rick, Chef, Chris, DJ, Hershel and Glenn, "This is bullshit."

"Calm down." Rick told him.

"Don't tell me to calm down. Don't ever tell me to calm down." Tony snapped, "I'll shoot all six of you assholes in the head and take your damn farm!"

In less than a second Rick was back on his feet as Chef quickly reached out for his shotgun, ready to use it at any moment.

Dave quickly stood up form his seat, knowing that he had to figure out how to calm everyone down, "Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa. Relax. Take it easy. Nobody's killing anybody. Nobody's shooting anybody. Right, guys?" He walked over to the counter and hopped over it, "Look. We're just friends having a drink. That's all. Now where's the good stuff, huh?"

He noticed the look that Rick and Chef were giving him. He even saw that Chris had his hands on his Glock, even though he looked more nervous about it than the other two. Dave could already tell that the host of Total Drama didn't had a chance to get his hands dirty. Same thing with Hershel, DJ and Glenn. He pulled out his pistol and placed it on the counter so that they wouldn't see him as a threat. He bent down behind the car as Rick, Chef and even Chris made sure to keep their weapons in ready.

Dave came back up with a bottle of rum, offering them a quick grin, "Hey, look at that. That'll work."

Chef looked around the room. He could see DJ and Glenn looking nervously at Dave while Hershel was staring at him with a look of fear and disgust. He looked over at his fellow host who nervously held his Glock in ready. Chris became a rather good shot during their lessons, but still, shooting an alive target that was not a walker was still something that his fellow host was completely unfamiliar with and Chef couldn't blame him for being nervous.

"You gotta understand. We can't stay out there," Dave insisted, pouring himself a glass of rum, "You know what it's like."

"Yeah, I do," Rick answered grimly. "But the farm is too crowded as-is, I'm sorry. You'll have to keep looking."

"Where do you suggest we do that?" Dave wanted to know.

"I don't know," Rick shrugged, "I hear Nebraska's nice."

"Nebraska." Dave laughed bitterly, "This guy."

Everything changed drastically changed in only one second. Dave let go off the rum bottle and reached out for his pistol. He never had a chance to fire it because Rick drew his Python faster and fired a single bullet which hit Dave straight in the head, killing him instantly. Dave's blood splattered across the wall and the counter as his lifeless body collapsed on the ground.

It wasn't over.

Chef quickly turned towards Tony who was about to reach for his shotgun. The co-host of Total Drama made sure that he wasn't going to hurt anyone in the bar. He fired a single round at Tony's stomach, making him grunt in pain as he collapsed on the ground. The impact made him pull the trigger of his shotgun which fired a single round at the ceiling. Chef came over to Tony and finished off with a single shot to his head. His head exploded into pieces and his blood painted the wall behind his body.

Rick holstered his Python and looked at Chef who lowered his shotgun. Chef turned to look at the sheriff deputy and nodded his head at him, receiving a nod in response from Rick.

They turned around to look at the rest. Hershel's expression remained emotionless, Glenn stared at the scene before him nervously with a hint of disgust in his expression, DJ looked away for a second, clearly disgusted by what had become of Tony's head, but slowly turned his gaze back to his group, and Chris who took his hand off his Glock. He rubbed his forehead with his other hand, bitting his lips in disgust.

Rick and Chef could understand them and their reactions. Chris, Glenn, DJ and Hershel have never seen someone being killed right in front of them.

There was one more thing that Chef and Rick were certain about. That they did what they had to do to keep their group safe.

* * *

**A question for you:**

**Who do you think is going to be still alive from the rest of the original cast when they will come across Rick and his group?**


	15. Triggerfinger

Rick and Chef exchanged a look with each other. The co-host of Total Drama lowered his smoking shotgun, no longer having a need to use it, at least for now as Chris, DJ, Glenn and Hershel went over to join them, admiring Tony's corpse in disgust in complete silence.

It was broken by Glenn who whispered "Holy shit..." to himself.

"Oh my gosh." DJ muttered to himself, staring at Tony's corpse in disgust.

Rick turned to the asian man and the teenager, "You two all right?"

"Yeah." Glenn said while DJ nodded his head.

The sheriff deputy shifted his attention towards Chris, "Chris?"

Although it took him a moment to reply, Chris nodded his head, "I'm okay."

"Hershel?" Rick asked as he turned to the last person.

The farmer remained silent for a few seconds, before eventually nodding his head, "Let's head back."

He, Glenn, DJ, Chef and Chris turned towards the exit from the farm as Rick knelt down in front of Tony's corpse. He picked up the overweighted man's shotgun and reached into his pockets, finding two shells. He stood up from his knees and followed Hershel, Chris, Chef, and DJ towards the exit as Glenn went to the other side of the counter to pick up Dave's pistol which laid right next to it's owner body from the floor.

"Give it to DJ." Chef said to which Glenn nodded his head. He held the pistol out to DJ who hesitated at first, but ended up taking it from the asian man. They took a few more steps towards the exit before they heard the sound of someone driving his car along the road, right next to the bar.

"Someone is here." Chris remarked.

"Get down." Chef said as he quickly crouched down in front of the blanketed windows, and everyone quickly followed his example. Chef turned to look at Tony's corpse, stating, "They may have brought more with them."

He turned back to the windows as everyone held their breath when they heard that the vehicle was stopping in front of the bar. They heard a man open the doors of a car, saying, "Dave? Tony? They said over here?"

"Yeah." The other man confirmed.

"I'm telling you, man, I heard gunshot." The third man said.

"I saw roamers two streets over. Might be more around here." The second voice stated.

"It's hot." The first voice stated, "We gotta get out of here."

"Dave! Tony!." One of the men cried out.

The other two clearly didn't like what their fellow groupmember did right now. Calling out for someone during the night was clearly was a bad idea. One of them voiced how displeased was he by it., "Shut up, you idiot! You wanna attract 'em? Just stick close. We're gonna find 'em."

They all saw the shadows of three men walking outside wall. Everyone heard their breath, not wanting to make a single noise. They didn't want to attract the attention of these unknown men towards this bar.

Chris took a deep breath when the shadows of these men disappeared, finally able to take a breath since they arrived in this town. He looked over at Chef who made a gesture with his head towards Chris' holster. The host of Total Darma knew what he meant by that. He pulled out his Glock as Chef held his shotgun in ready, not afraid to use it again.

* * *

The group was slowly gathering around the tables in the farm house as they were about to have a dinner together. A lot of them were still nervous because it was a few hours since Rick, Chef, Chris and Glenn left to bring Hershel and DJ back to the farm and they still haven't returned.

Andrea took her seat next to T-Dog and Tyler, saying, "They should've been back by now."

"Yeah." Shane agreed, taking his seat, "They just got holed up somewhere."

"When are we going to get them?" Izzy asked.

"It will be the first thing we'll do in the morning." Shane assured her as he turned his attention towards Carl, "Carl, I want you to keep your head up, okay? Your old man, he's the toughest son of a..."

Patricia cut him off, "No cussing in the house."

"Sorry." Shane said in return.

"Lori." Carol called out for Lori, "Dinner."

"She's not in there." Maggie explained.

"Where is she, then?" Gwen asked.

When no one answered to the goth's question, Shane turned to Carl once again, asking him, "This afternoon."

"She was worried about Rick, asked me to look out for Carl when I was with Beth." Bridgette declared.

"She must have must've gone off looking for them." Duncan said, looking like someone dragged him here. It earned everyone's attention."

"What are you talking about?" Dale asked the juvie.

"She went to me a few hours ago, asking me to go to the town to bring Rick, Chef, Chris and the rest back to the farm, but I refused, telling her that there's no sense in going out to look for them." Duncan began, "She ended up calling me selfish and I told her to screw off."

"Did she said anything else?" Shane wanted to know, staring at the juvie.

"She went to talk with Daryl, and I can already tell that her talk with him went as well as with me." Duncan explained. He went to ask Daryl about it, but the younger Dixon didnt' answer to any of his words, but he didn't really need answer from Daryl. It was quite obvious to him, "She must have thought that she ran out of the options and went out on her own."

"Why couldn't she ask me?" Izzy asked, "I would go if she wanted someone to look for them."

Duncan shrugged, "I don't know."

This answer was enough for everyone. They all stood up from their seats and headed out of the house to look for Lori. Dale and Noah exchanged a look with each other, knowing that Lori was pregnant and knowing that her going on her own was a terrible idea.

They all split around the farm. Izzy offered to take the car and go looking for Lori. Shane didn't had any objections. Noah decided to go with her, knowing that there was something he should talk about with Lori. Ezekiel went with them too. They all got themselves into a car and Izzy started up the car, before driving away from the farm, intending to find Lori and bring her back to her group.

* * *

Rick peeked his head through the curtains to see that Tony's and Dave's people weren't outside. He went back to his group members. Glenn and DJ were pale as a ghosts.

"They're gone?" Chef asked him.

Rick nodded his head, "For now, but their car is still in here."

"Why won't they leave?" Glenn asked.

"Would you?" Hershel asked

"We can't sit here any longer." Rick stated, "Let's head out the back and make a run to the car."

"I'll cover you if they'll spot." Chef added.

They all nodded their heads and readied themselves to make a run towards their cars, but quickly changed their mind when they heard someone firing their gun outside. They hid behind the wall again and gripped their weapons tightly.

"What happened?" One of the men asked.

"Roamers, I nailed 'em." The other one answered.

"I cleared those buildings." The third man added, before pointing at the bar, "You guys get this one?"

"No." The first man answered.

"Me neither." The second man answered shorty after.

"Really?" The third man complained, beginning to walk towards the barn as the other two followed him, "We're looking for Dave and Tony and no one checks the damn bar?"

Rick pulled out his Python and aimed it at the doors, ready to use it at any moment, and so did Chef and Chris with their weapons, the latter doing it rather nervously. DJ was let out one deep nervous breath after another. He knew he had to do something to stop these men from the entering the bar. He did the first idea that popped into his mind. He slid through the flloor over to the doors and leaned against it. When one of the men tried to open the door, DJ's weight kept it shut.

The unknown man tried to push the door open one more time, before yelling an confused and annoyed, "What?"

"Someone pushed it shut. There's someone in here." The other man stated as DJ closed his eyes. He couldn't remember the last time when he was that nervous and terrified. He had to hide from the walkers before, but it was the first time when he had to that from humans, "Yo, if someone's in there,we don't want no trouble. We're just looking for our friends."

"What do we do?" One of them whispered to his group members.

"Bum rush the door?" The man that DJ stopped from opening the door asked.

"No,we don't know how many are there. Just relax." The last man said to his group, before speaking up to the people in the bar, "We don't want any trouble. We're just looking for our friends. If something happened, tell us. This place is crawling with corpses. If you can help us not get killed, I'd appreciate it.

"You're bugging." Someone from his group told him, "I'm telling you nobody's in there."

Ignoring what his friend just said to him, the man said, "Someone guard the door. If they're in there, they might know where Dave and Tony are."

Rick heard one of them departing and exhaled deeply, before declaring to the men, "They drew on us!"

Hershel sighed and put his hand over his mouth, Glenn looked up at the ceiling, hisf ace becoming even paller, DJ looked at Rick, not believing what he just did, Chris simply shook his head at what sheriff deputy just did and Chef held his shotgun more ready than before, knowing that the gunfight between them was just a matter of time now.

"Dave and Tony in there?" The unknown man asked, "They alive?"

Rick bit his lips, bracing himself for the answer that he was going to receive from them, "No."

The man quickly realized what he meant by that, "They killed Dave and Tony."

"Come on, man." His friend said, "Let's go."

"No, I'm not leaving, I'm not telling Jane." The man said in response, "I'm not gonna go back and tell them that Dave and Tony got shot by some assholes in a bar."

"Your friends drew on us! They gave us no choice!" Rick explained, "I'm sure we've all lost enough people, done things we wish we didn't have to,but It's like that now. You know that! So let's just chalk this up to what it was-wrong place, wrong..."

He didn't had a chance to finish as one of the men fired his gun, breaking the glass in the window into pieces. DJ flinched as some of the pieces of the glass landed on his head and shoulders as Rick stood up and fired back at the men, seeing no other option right now.

"Get outta of here!" Chef shouted, coming over to the window. He fired a single round from his shotgun at his opponents, "Now!"

He didn't had to say more. Hershel, DJ, Glenn and Chris all jumped into their feet and ran across the bar to hide away from the gunfire. Chris hid under the table, aiming his Glock at one of the windows, DJ made his way over to the counter and hopped over it to hide there, Glenn crouched down behind the table and Hershel hid somewhere in the corner.

Rick and Chef provided them some cover fire, firing their weapons a few more times at the unknown men, before they crouched down as well as their opponents forced them to stay down. The men continued to fire at the bar, cups, glasses and bottles shattering into pieces. Several seconds later, they stopped firing at them and Rick's group was met with complete silence. DJ's and Glenn's heavy breathing was the only thing that could be heard in the bar.

The sheriff deputy let out another deep breath, before declaring to the unknown men, "Hey! We all know this is not gonna end well! There's nothing in it for any of us! You guys just back off, no one else gets hurt!"

His words went without an answer. Rick turned away from the doors and looked at nodded his head. The asian man knew what he meant by that. He stood up and headed towards the back of the bar as Rick turned his attention towards Chris and send him a nod. Chris quickly left his cover behind the table and followed Glenn, gripping his Glock tightly.

The host of Total Drama catched up to Glenn and the two exchanged a look as they approached the door in the back. Chris held his Glock out in ready and nodded his head at Glenn who slowly opened the door. They slowly came inside the room which appeared to be a storage room or something like that, the steps underneath them creaking loudly as they walked down.

They slowly made their way through the storage room, eyeing it carefully, feeling how sweat spilled down their faces. They stopped when their eyes caught the sight of the double doors and worst of all, the handle was being twisted at this exact moment. They could easily spot the figure of a man on the other side through the glass window. To stop him from entering the bar, Chris quickly aimed his weapon the glass window and fired, shattering it into pieces, making the man step away from the doors.

"Guys!" Rick called out to them.

"Is everything alright?" Chef shouted shorty after.

"W-We're all right." Glenn stuttered out in response, "We're all right."

* * *

It was a while since Izzy, Noah and Ezekiel left the farm. The orange haired girl stopped the car when something caught her attention. It was a car that was flipped over to the other side. Someone clearly crashed here. Noah and Ezekiel readied their pistols as Izzy readied her shotgun just in case if there were any walkers around. They shared a quick look with each other before getting out of their vehicle.

Izzy aimed her shotgun at the crashed car, calling out, "Lori?"

She didn't receive an answer. She kept approaching it with Noah and Ezekiel. There was one body laying on the road. She kicked it, just in case if this walker was still alive. It wasn't. They circled around the car and saw one more body of a walker, it's lower half sticking out through the hole in the front window. The orange haired girl nodded her head at Ezekiel who slowly approached it and touched it, finding out that this one was dead too.

Noah looked inside the car and saw that Lori wasn't there, "She's not here."

"She must have head back to the farm, eh." Ezekiel stated.

Izzy turned back to look at their car, "Let's go."

Noah and Ezekiel nodded their heads and all three of them headed back to their vehicle.

* * *

Rick made a hand gesture towards DJ to come over to him. DJ nodded his head in understanding and quickly crawled over to the sheriff deputy, Hershel and Chef who were hiding in the corner.

When the teenager got himself back on his feet, Rick looked around his group and said, "I and Chef will hold 'em here. You two go and help Chris in covering Glenn. See if you can make it to your car. Tell him to pull up back. We'll run for it, get the hell out of here."

Hershel and DJ shared a look with each other, the former saying, "You want us to cover Glenn?"

"You missed all that gun training." Chef said, referring to Hershel. DJ wasn't the best when it came to shooting, but the co-host wasn't worried him, "It could've come in handy now."

"Nah, I can shoot." Hershel assured him, taking a quick look at his pistol, "I just don't like to."

DJ sighed, wanting to get away from these unknown men as fast as possible, "Let's just get this over with."

He and Hershel made their way back to the storage room where Chris and Glenn had their guns aimed at the double doors. They heard someone entering the storage, making them turn around to see Hershel and DJ approaching them.

"Rick wants you to try for the car." Hershel said to Glenn, stopping in front of him and Chris with DJ.

Glenn titled his head, nervously, "Try?"

"You'll try and succeed." Hershel told him.

"Don't worry, Glenn,." DJ added, sending the asian man an assuring look, "All three of us will cover you."

Glenn let out a bittersweet chuckle, shaking his head, "That's a great plan."

The host of Total Drama walked over to the double doors and slowly opened them. He turned to look at Glenn who slowly stepped outside, gripping his shotgun tightly as Chris, DJ and Hershel walked behind him, hoping that this wouldn't end with them having to provide cover for the asian man. It unfortunely didn't end the way they wanted to. They turned heard shooting and saw one of the men sprinting towards them, firing his pistol every moment as he did so.

Chris' hands were shaking as he quickly aimed his Glock at the unknown man who continued to fire at Glenn who hid behind the dumpster. Chris knew that something had to be done. He steadied his aim and fired. The bullet hit the man in the head. A perfect bullseye.

His lifeless body collapsed on ground as Chris just watched in shock at what he had just done. He had done many things in his life that many people would consider questionable, and the contestants almost died a few times during the challenges but he never actually killed anyone before. He actually just took someone's life. He knew that he did what had to be done to protect Glenn, but still, he couldn't believe that he actually killed someone. His hands were shaking more than before as his eyes couldn't leave the lifeless body ahead of him.

Chef and Rick who must have heard the gunshots ran over to them, the latter asking, "What's going on?" .

"He fired. He must've hit Glenn." Hershel explained, pointing at the corpse of a man.

"He's behind the dumpster." DJ added, "Doesn't look like he's moving."

Rick went over to check on Glenn as Chef noticed that something was wrong with Chris and asked, "Pretty boy?"

"He had to kill this man to protect Glenn." Hershel explained, looking at Chris with a hint of worry in his eyes.

Chef's eyes snapped open at this information. He turned to Chris, intending to say something to his fellow host because he knew through what he was going through right now, but never had a chance, because another shots rang out. DJ, Hershel and Chris all hid behind Chef who took a quick peek through the opened doors and saw one of the bandits on top of one of the buildings.

They stopped when someone, probably the last one of the bandits drove the car through the streets, stopping in front of the building from which his friend just fired at Rick, Chef, Chris, DJ, Glenn and Hershel, yelling, "Let's get out of here! Roamers all over the place! Hurry up! We gotta get out of here!"

The man nodded his head. The third member of their group was already dead, so there was no need of having to wait for him. He jumped off the roof, but seemed to trip right before the taking the jump. He collapsed somewhere between the buildings, letting out a loud scream of pain at the impact, sounding a dinner bell for every walker in this area.

"Help me!" His cries could be heard across the entire town by now, "Help me!"

"I've gotta go." The last man cried out, before driving away, "I've gotta go. I'm sorry!"

"No, don't leave!" The man that just left behind cried out to him, but his cries went without an answer his his friends drove away, leaving him behind, "Help me! No! No!"

Chef heard Rick whisper something to Glenn before pushing himself into run. The asian man stood up and turned around to look at Chef, Hershel, DJ and Chris, "Guys."

They heard a few growls behind them. They turned in the direction of these growls and saw a few walkes heading towards them, but they didn't had to waste their ammo on them because they undead already feasted on the man that was killed by Chris. They walked over to Glenn and started making their way towards their vehicles, ready to leave this town at any moment.

"The gunfire must've attracted the walkers." Hershel stated, moving towards the red truck.

"Where's Rick?" DJ asked.

Glenn pointed in the direction of the alley in front of them, "He ran across."

"We can't go without him." Chef stated, running in the direction that just Glenn pointed at.

DJ, Chris, Hershel and Glenn followed him and a few seconds later all five of them saw Rick inspecting the man, who happened to a kid that just became not that long ago, maybe a year or two years ago that just fell from the roof. They all cringed when they saw that happened to him. His leg was impaled through the spike of a barred fence. He screamed in pain as Rick tried to find a way how to free him.

"We have to go now!" Chef told Rick.

"No!" The kid shouted, crying.

Hershel took a good look at the kid and shook his head. He patted his leg, saying, "I'm sorry, son. We have to go."

"No no, don't leave me please." The kid pleaded them to not leave him behind to the walkers.

"We can't." Rick told his group.

"He was just shooting at us!" Glenn pointed out.

"He's a kid." Rick pointed out in return, turning to look at DJ, "Just like DJ!"

Hershel took a closer look at the wound, "The fence went clean through. There's no way we can get the leg off in one piece."

He gently touched the leg, but even this made the kid scream in pain. Chef aimed his shotgun at him to shush him, "Shut up or I will shoot you!"

"That may be the answer." Hershel said, "We're not gonna get that leg off without tearing the muscle to shreds. He certainly can't run. He may bleed out. Maybe we should put him down. I don't wanna see any more killing,but this is cruel."

"Can't we cut his leg off?" DJ asked, already cringing at the imagines going through his head.

Rick exchanged a look with Hershel and Chef before asking, "That hatchet still in the car?"

The kid's eyes snapped open after hearing this. He sat up on the dumpster, "Please, not my leg."

Rick sighed when Glenn shook his head and Chef pulled out a knife, asking "How about this?"

"I'll have to sever the ligaments below the kneecap, cut above the tibia. He's going to lose his lower leg." Hershel said, beginning to take off his shirt as the kid continued to beg them to not cut off his leg, "When we get clear of here,we're gonna have to find some tinder,cauterize the wound so he doesn't bleed out."

"All right, no choice. Hurry up." Rick said to Hershel. He moved to the other side of the fence with Chef to hold this kid down as Hershel quickly wrapped the farmer's shirt around his leg, preparing everything. Glenn, DJ, and Chris walked out from the alley and saw walkers, a lot of them approaching them.

"Guys!" DJ shouted, firing his pistol at one walker, hitting it in the chest. His second shot managed to take out the undead, "We have a problem!"

"Hurry up!" Glenn added as he fired his shotgun, getting rid of one walker, "Walkers are here!"

Rick placed his hand over this kid's mouth to stop him from screaming in pain before he heard some growling coming down the alley. He and Chef turned in the direction of these growls and saw that walkers were approaching them from this side too.

"Walkers!" The sheriff deputy declared as he removed his hand from the kid's mouth. He pulled out his Python and killed two walkers heading towards him and his group.

"I'm out of ammo!" DJ declared from the other side of the fence, backing away from the approaching walkers, leaving Glenn and Chris alone to take care of them.

"Hershel." Rick said, approaching the farmer and DJ as Chef remained in the alley and fired his shotgun at the approaching walkers, "How we doing over here?"

"I need more hands!" Hershel answered, pressing the knife against the kid's leg, making him scream even louder.

"We gotta go!" Glenn shouted, turning away from the walkers along with Chris. They walked back to Rick, Hershel, DJ and the kid, "I'm almost out of ammo!"

"I can't hold them off!" Chef said, approaching them as well, "And I'm going to ran out of the ammo soon! We need to get out of here now!"

"You need to do it now!" Rick told Hershel.

Hershel shook his head, "There's no time!"

This answer was enough for Rick. He knew what had to be done if they wanted to save this kid from becoming a nice meal for the walkers. He grabbed the kid's leg with both of his hands and jerked it forward to the sky as fast as he could, removing it from the spike. The kid's agonizing scream was the loudest thing that Rick and his group have heard in a long time.

* * *

Izzy, Noah and Ezekiel continued their search for Lori and they couldn't find anything that would lead them to her since they saw the car wreck. They were about to head back to the farm to inform everyone that they couldn't find Lori until they saw someone walking along the road ahead of them.

They instantly knew who it was. Izzy stopped the car and all of them got out of the vehicle with Ezekiel and Noah followed her example. They approached the person and it turned out to be the one they were looking for.

"There you are." Izzy said, as Lori turned to look at them, "We've been looking for you."

"You're all right?" Ezekiel asked.

Lori nodded her head, obviously lying, "I'm fine."

"Don't lie to us. We know it's not true." Noah told her, "We saw the car wreck and I doubt that anyone would simply walk it off."

"What happened out there?" Izzy wanted to know.

"Looked down at the map and hit a walker." Lori explained.

"Let's take you back to the farm." Izzy said, "Everyone is worried about you."

"No." Lori shook her head, "We gotta find Rick."

"He's back." Ezekiel quickly lied to convice Lori to go with them, "They're all back."

"Really?" Lori asked, shitfting her attention between Izzy and Ezekiel.

Izzy nodded his head, confirming Ezekiel's lie, "They are."

The orange haired teenager moved to Lori, intending to take her to the car, but Noah stopped her, "Give us a moment. I need to talk with Lori about something."

"About what, eh?" Ezekiel asked, looking confused by what Noah just said. Izzy was confused too.

"You will find out sooner or later." Noah answered, "Now get in the car while I'll talk with her."

Izzy and Ezekiel exchanged a look with each other before moving towards the car. Noah watched them enter the car and made sure that they weren't going to hear what he was going to talk about with Lori.

"What were you thinking?" He asked Lori.

"I wanted to find Rick." Lori answered, knowing the reason why Noah was angry at her, "I didn't think it would end this way."

Noah crossed his arms, "Of course because going out while being pregnant on a mission is a good idea."

"I didn't had who to ask to come." Lori tried to explain her actions, "I asked Duncan and Daryl and they refused."

"You couldn't ask, Izzy?" Noah asked, pointing at Izzy who sat in the driver seat, "She said it herself that she would go if you asked her!"

"I-I didn't think about asking her." Lori answered, "I'm sorry."

"Sorry is not going to make any change if you'll continue to do stuff like this." Noah said, "The last thing our group needs right now is another dead kid. Seeing Sophia as a walker was bad enough for everyone, including me."

Lori hung her head low, repeating herself, "I'm sorry."

Noah sighed, shaking her head, "Just don't pull off stunts like this anymore and we'll be fine. Oh, and the first thing we'll do after arriving at the farm will be telling everyone about your pregnancy. Everyone is going to find out anyway, so there is no point in hiding it."

* * *

Noah, Izzy, Lori and Ezekiel just made their way back to the farm. They got out of the car and everyone quickly gathered around their car and could feel everyone relieved looks after seeing that they found Lori.

Shane quickly spotted the state that Lori was in and turned to look at the teenagers, wanting to know what happened to her, "What happened to her?"

"She had an accident." Izzy explained, "We found her walking down the road."

"She was lucky that there weren't any walkers around, eh." Ezekiel added.

"They are not back?" Lori asked, looking around the group to see that her husband hasn't returned, "Where are they?"

"We had to find a way how to bring you here." Noah answered, "And the answer was quite obvious to all of us how to do it."

Lori gritted her teeth and walked over to Izzy, Noah and Ezekiel, glaring at them, "You bastards."

"We did what anyone else would do." Noah asked, "Besides, we are the bastards here? You're the one who went out while being pregnant by yourself."

His words made everyone in the group stare at Lori in shock, except for Shane and Dale who already knew. Their minds tried to process what Noah just said.

The silence that formed among the group was broken by Carl who approached his mom, staring at his mom in shock, "You're having a baby? Why didn't you tell me?"

His mom didn't reply to his question. Bridgette came over to Lori, having just processed this information and said, "We'll talk about this later. Now let's just make sure you're all right."

* * *

Everyone made their way back to the farm house. They made sure that Lori didn't receive any serious wounds from the car accident. After making sure of that, Dale, Andrea, Harold, Leshawna, Bridgette, Gwen, Cody, Owen, Sierra, Tyler, Heather, Alejandro, Courtney, Izzy, Noah and Ezekiel gathered around her to have a talk with her about the recent revelation as Maggie headed back to check on her sister.

Lori looked around the group and then focused her attention on her son,, 'I am so sorry that I left without telling you."

"It's okay. I wasn't scared." Carl gave his mom an assuring nod, "When's dad getting back?"

"Let's hope soon." Lori answered.

"I wanna be there when you tell him about the baby." Carl said.

"Oh, love,he already knows." Lori explained, "We were just trying to find the right time to tell you."

"Is it a boy or a girl?" Carl asked.

"Well, we won't know that until it's born." Lori stated.

"Will I be able to feel it?" Carl asked another question, placing his hand on his mothers stomach.

"Not for a while." Lori shook her head, "You must have a lot of questions,huh? We never had the talk. I guess we forgot."

Carl looked over his mother shoulder at Harold who happened to be standing right behind his moms back. The nerdy teenager shook his head with a smile, "Don't look at me like that, Carl. This is something parents should deal with."

"If the baby's a girl,can we name her Sophia?" Carl asked.

"Hey, dude." His mom didn't had a chance to reply as Shane walked into the room, "Hey, I'm sorry,bud. Okay? I thought you know."

Carl tipped his hat, "Big brother Carl. Pretty cool, huh?"

"I say that's very cool." Shane laughed, "You guys mind if I talk with Lori for a second?"

"Maybe we should let her have some rest?" Sierra asked.

Gwen nodded her head in agreement, "She is going to need it, Shane."

Shane walked over to the couch that Lori and Carl were sitting on and placed his hands on it, "Lori, how about you just hear me out, please? It's okay."

Lori placed her hand on Carl's shoulder, "Give me a minute."

Carl nodded his head, making Shane give him a grateful pat on his back. He stood up from the couch as everyone else slowly left the room, leaving Lori and Shane alone.

Bridgette was about to leave the house and head to the camp along with the rest of the group, but she changed her mind. She told everyone that she'll join them in the camp in a minutes and made her way to the room where Maggie and Patricia were currently checking on Beth.

"How is she doing?" She asked.

"Dehydrated. I'll set up an IV." Patricia explained, "Best I can do without Hershel."

Bridgette nodded her head in understanding, "Is there anything else I can do?"

"No." Maggie shook her head, "You already did enough by looking after her."

"At least I finally had a chance to use my medical training." Bridgette's explained as Maggie and Patricia looked suprised by it, "It just a basic one, but it's still better than nothing, right?"

"I had no idea that you have medical training." Maggie said, approaching the surfer.

"I didn't really had a chance to use it for a while. Our group doesn't get hurt that often. I might have had a chance to use it when Daryl and Duncan returned wounded from their search for Sophia but your dad has already taken caren of it." Bridgette explained, "But when I saw what happened to Beth I thought I can finally use it as a form of thank you for letting us stay on this farm."

* * *

Chris who hasn't said a word since he had to kill one of the people that attacked them to protect Glenn stared through the window in the passenger seat at the fields. Chef who sat in the driver knew that something was wrong with Chris because anyone would be like that after killing someone for the first time. Chris was acting exactly the same how he did when he had to kill someone for the first time during his military service.

"I know that it was hard for you, Chris." Chef said as Chris turned to look at him. DJ who sat in the back remained silent and decided to let them talk.

Chris shook his head. The view of this man's lifeless body with a hole between his eyes falling to on the ground was in his mind since they left that town,"I just can't believe that I actually killed someone today, Chef."

If Chef wasn't driving, he'd place a hand on Chris' shoulder to comfort his fellow host, "I know that killing this man wasn't the most humanly way out of this situation, but I want you to know that I'm proud of because you did good out there. There was a man threatening to kill Glenn and you didn't hesitate to protect him. Who knows what would have happen to Glenn if you didn't fire in time."

Chris just nodded his head in understanding to Chef's words as his fellow host continued, "This what exactly what a man that cares for other people would do if there was a person put in danger by bad people. Not the sadistic man you had to play on the camera for the ratings and views."

Chef saw his fellow host give him another nod of his head as he turned his attention to DJ, "I'm proud of you too, DJ."

"What do you mean, Chef?" DJ raised his brow in confusion, "I left without a word and left you all worried."

"Exactly." Chef said, "But I'm proud of you because of what you did back in the town. You helped us to convice Hershel to return with us to the farm."

"His family needs him." DJ said, "I want him to spend every moment he can with his family, because I didn't even had a chance to say a proper goodbye to my Momma because she was already dead when we found her. I will say my goodbye to her when we'll return to the farm, but she won't be able to hear to anything I will say to her."

Chef let DJ finish before continuing, "And don't even get me started on what you did when these bandits were going to enter the bar. You instantly glued your back to the doors and made sure that they weren't going to enter it, even after they started shooting."

"I didn't think when I did that." DJ said, "And I was terrified when I did this, but I couldn't let them enter the bar and see the bodies of Dave and Tony."

"That may be true, but you didn't hesitate to risk your life when it come to helping us." Chef said, "And for that, as I already said, I'm proud of you."

* * *

Shane threw a bag into the back of the car, preparing everything to go looking for Rick, Chef, Chris, Hershel, DJ and Glenn. Tyler's baseball bat rested on his shoulder as he waited in front of the RV for Andrea to come out. The two of them volunteered to come with him. He heard someone coming out of the RV and saw Andrea.

"Ready?" He asked.

Andrea nodded her head, "Yeah."

They started heading towards Shane, but stopped when Dale approached them and said, "Are you sure you wanna risk it? You might not make it back."

"We'll be fine." Andrea assured him.

"And with Shane at the helm,I wouldn't be too sure." Dale stated, "He's lost people before."

"And he's had my and Andrea's back." Tyler said in return, "What are you trying to say by this, Dale?"

"He doesn't want Rick back, or Hershel." Dale told them, "With them gone, he's got everything he wants and no one to tell him otherwise."

Tyler sighed, "Dale, I think we already went over with this yesterday. Shane has done more to keep this group alive than anybody, including Rick. At least he didn't made us sleep with a walker filled with walkers in our backyard."

Dale shook his head at the teenager, "Tyler, you can't possibly believe that."

"I do." Tyler said. "I will do what it takes to prevent everyone from sharing the same fate as Lindsay and Shane does exactly what has to be done in this area. He knows what has to be done to keep all of us alive. Everything I did with him yesterday, I'd do it all again."

"I believe in that too." Andrea added.

They walked away from Dale and approached Shane, not long before they spotted two cars driving towards the farm. The cars drove through the gate and drove towards the farm house as everyone started to gather around it. Rick, Chef, Chris, DJ, Glenn and Hershel all got out from the cars.

"Dad!" Carl smiled and ran over to his dad to hug him.

"DJ!" Bridgette said as she ran over to him and gave him a quick hug as the contestants gathered around him, relieved that he returned.

"What were you thinking, sugar?" Leshawna asked.

"We were all worried about you." Cody added.

"I'm sorry, guys." DJ said, "know that I should have tell you about me going out to the town with Hershel, even if it was a last minute decision."

Right after Hershel got out of the car, his daughter ran past him and shared a hug with Glenn. He made his way back to his house, saying to Patricia, "Patricia, prepare the shed for surgery."

Lori shared a hug with her husband, "Are you hurt?"

"No." Rick said, noticing some bruises on Lori, "But what happened to you?"

"I was in a car accident." Lori answered.

Rick's eyes widened in suprise, "Accident? How?"

"I went looking for you." Lori explained.

"Snuck out on her own." Shane said as Lori and Rick turned to him, "Izzy, Noah and Zeke brought her back."

"Are you crazy?" Rick asked her, "You could've..."

Alejandro pointed at the kid that Rick and the rest brought from the town, "Who is that?"

"His name is Randall." Chris answered as everyone turned their attention towards Randall and saw him sitting in the back of one of the vehicles.

* * *

Everyone was gathered in the farm house to talk about the person that Rick, Chef, Chris, Hershel, DJ, and Glenn brought with them to the farm. The group had some questions that needed to be answered. They told them everything what happened in the town, especially about how they were attacked by a group of people there.

"We couldn't just leave him behind." Rick explained, "He would've bled out, if he lived that long."

"It's gotten bad in town." Glenn added.

"There were a lot of walkers after our gunfight with these men." Chef said, his eyes were on Duncan. He had to tell the juvie about what he found out about Timothy, "We barely escaped."

"What do we do with him?" Courtney asked.

"I repaired his calf muscle as best I can,but he'll probably have nerve damage." Hershel said, entering the room, "Won't be on his feet for at least a week."

"Isn't that the same as leaving him for the walkers?" Bridgette asked.

"He'll have a fighting chance." Rick answered.

"Just gonna let him go?" Shane asked, "He knows where we are."

"He was blindfolded the whole way here." Rick pointed out, "He's not a threat."

"Not a threat. How many of them were there?" Shane asked another question, "You killed three of their men,you took one of them hostage, but they just ain't gonna come looking?"

"They left him for dead, Shane." Chef explained, "They most likely think that he's dead."

"We should still post a guard." T-Dog spoke up.

Tyler nodded his head in agreement, "I agree with T-Dog."

"He's out cold right now, will be for hours." Hershel explained.

"You know what? I'm gonna go get him some flowers and candy." Shane scoffed, beginning to walk towards the exit, "Look at this,folks-we back in fantasyland."

"You know,we haven't even dealt with what you did at my barn yet." Hershel said, making Shane stop and look at him, "Let me make this perfectly clear, once and for all. This is my farm. Now I wanted you gone. Rick talked me out of it, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. So do us both a favor and keep your mouth shut."

* * *

The meeting ended and everything went off to do their own thing. Duncan exited the house and took his seat on the porch. There was something that Chef wanted to talk with him about in private. The juvie had no idea what was the thing that Chef wanted to talk with him about.

He heard Chef's voice say to him, "You came."

Duncan turned to the voice as Chef stopped next to him, "What was the thing that you wanted to talk with me about?"

"It's about Randall." Chef revelead.

Duncan raised his brow, "What about him? Everything that had to be said about that guy was said during the meeting."

"Not everything. I think that he is from the same group as Timothy." Chef explained.

The juvie's eyes widened at the mention of Timothy and that Chef, Chris, Rick, DJ, Hershel and Glenn may have brought someone from his group to the farm. He asked, "What are you talking about?"

"These guys from the bar, Dave and Tony asked us if we saw their friends that they haven't seen in days." Chef began, "They told us his name and it was Timothy."

"How do you know that?" Duncan wanted to be sure, "It could have been another Timothy."

"I asked them how he looked like." Chef said, "And the description they gave me matched Timothy. I'm telling you about this because I felt that you needed to know."

Duncan gave Chef a slow nod of his head in response, already planning to have a little private talk with this Randall about Timothy.

* * *

DJ made his way over to his Momma's grave, holding a small bouquet of flowers that he put together after picking up some small flowers he found in the field. He sat down on the ground right next to his Momma's grave and placed the bouquet on top of it.

"Hey, mom." He greeted her, knowing that she couldn't hear him right now, but he didn't care. He wanted to share his last words with her, "It's been a while since we talked. I remember that it was right about our bus crashed in that abyss. I would never except that this would be my last time when I would see you alive..."

He paused for a moment saw looked up at the sky. He let out a deep exhale and looked back down at his Momma's grave,

"Listen. I know that you can't hear me." He placed his hand on the grave and continued, "I just want you to know that I love you with all my heart and I always will love you. You took care of me and raised me by yourself. You taught me how to cook and it was one of the many things that you taught me. I wouldn't be the person that I am now if it wasn't for you. I just wish that I was able to tell you right now how grateful I am for everything that you did for me."

He paused for second time, feeling tears forming in his eyes. He let out a deep breath and removed his hand from the grave,

"You don't have to worry about me. I'm here with my friends from Total Drama and I made some place on my way to this farm. They are here that are here for me and I promise to you that I'll survive for as long as I can, and who knows, perharps one day we'll see each other again."

He stood up from the ground, now crying, sending his Momma's grave one last sad smile, "Goodbye mom."

* * *

Tyler and Andrea exited the farm house together and walked together through the farm, trying to find Shane. They increased their speed when they saw him walking in the distance.

They approached him, the blond haired woman asking, "Want us to take watch?"

Shane sighed, "Yeah. In a few hours. I'm gonna take the graveyard."

"And then what? We just send him on his merry way?" Tyler asked.

Rick scoffed, "According to Rick and Hershel?"

"And what will happen if he finds his people and leads them here?" Tyler asked another question, "Nothing good will come out of it."

"It may start war between our groups." Andrea stated.

Shane nodded his head, "You know you're preaching to the choir, guys."

"You ever consider a lighter touch?" Andrea asked him, "Abandoning the search for Sophia, taking out the walkers in the barn, those were all the right calls. It's your presentation that leaves something to be desired."

"Dale send you?" Shane asked them.

Tyler shook his head, "No, but he did try to talk us out of hanging around you."

"And what did you say to him?" Shane wanted to know.

"You don't need to ask me, Shane. You know that I have your back." Tyler told him, "You know how to keep this group safe."

Shane laughed, "I'll always be the odd man out. The same with both of you."

"I'm okay with it." Tyler said.

"Same here." Andrea added.

"Are you?" Shane wanted to know, "The way I see it, both of you and me, we're treated the same way. Andrea, everyone's always trying to take the gun out of your hand, and you Tyler, they just keep talking about how worried they are about you, when you're the smartest one of them because you already what kind of a world we live in while these folks want to play house. They wanna pretend that Rick and Hershel. They know what they're doing lemme tell you something, they bound to get us all killed."

"Then we have to stop that." Andrea said to which Tyler nodded his head in agreement.

Shane shook his head, "They don't listen. They're gonna give this kid a care package. They're gonna send him on his way. And you right,that's gonna bring on a war or something worse, and we're gonna sit here and wait for it. But you two and me, we're the only ones who see it coming. I should've left with you two when I had the chance."

* * *

Rick and Lori were in their tent. The sheriff deputy grunted in pain as he was now trying to take his shirt off. Lori who was behind him saw that and reached out to him, helping her husband in taking his shirt off.

He threw his shirt on the ground, sat down on the bed and laughed, "We're like a couple of old people."

Lori turned back to look at her husband, "We need to talk about Shane."

Rick sighed, "What's he done now?"

"He thinks the baby's his." Lori explained, "No matter what, it's yours."

Rick sighed once again, "He'll accept that."

"You're gonna have to make him. He won't listen to me. He's delusional and he's dangerous." Lori stated as she sat down on the chair, taking her socks off, "You saw what he did at the barn. He's threatened Dale and Hershel. He's scaring people and he's scaring me. And I think he killed Otis. I think he left him behind and I think-I think he did it not just to save Carl but because he loves me..."

"But you don't know that." Rick stated.

"...And he thinks that we're supposed to be together no matter what." Lori finished what she was saying.

"Those gunmen left that kid behind today." Rick began as Lori stood up from the chair and sat down next to him on the bed, "I killed someone myself because of you, Carl and the baby. It was gonna be me and not them no matter what."

"You killed the living to protect what's yours?" Lori wanted to know.

Rick nodded his head in confirmation, "That's right."

"Shane thinks I'm his." Lori said as she hugged her husband from behind, whispering to him, "He thinks the baby's his. And he says you can't protect us, that you're gonna get us killed. He's dangerous, Rick, and he won't stop."


	16. 18 Miles Out

A little over a week has passed since Rick, Chef, Chris, DJ, Glenn and Hershel brought Randall to the farm. Everyone in the group waited for the outsiders health to get better, and when it finally happened, they decided to take him as away from the farm as possible and leave him to do his own thing. Rick was the one who volunteered to take him away and Shane was the one who quickly agreed to join him.

They weren't the only ones who volunteered to go on this mission. Duncan, Harold and Tyler went with them, and the atmosphere between the three teenagers was awkward to say the least.

The situation between Tyler and Harold was really tense for the past week, especially after the jock punched the nerd in the face for mentioning Lindsay. Duncan didn't want to go with them in the first place, but Courtney was the one who signed him up for this, thinking it would good for him to leave the farm for a few hours, because the juvie became really quiet after what happened to Sophia. On the bright side he may finally get to chance to ask Randall some questions about Timothy.

They left the farm in two cars. Rick and Shane took the led of their small convoy and drove in the front, but before that, they made sure that Randall was placed in the trunk of their car and that he wasn't going to escape while Harold, Duncan and Tyler drove closely behind them. They drove through the country roads for quite some time before Rick stopped his car for some reason.

He got out from his vehicle and turned back to look at Harold, Duncan and Tyler and nodded his head at them, telling them that they're going to stop here for a moment by this gesture. Shane left the car shorty after him, holding a shotgun.

The duo took a few steps forward and Shane looked around their surroundings for a few seconds, before asking, "I thought we were going further."

"We are." Rick said, walking ahead of Shane, "18 miles out."

"So why are we stopping?" Shane asked him another question.

"I wanted to talk." Rick explained, stopping and turning to look at Shane, "Been waiting a week till we were gonna do this. I just wanna talk."

"We don't need to." Shane stated.

Rick shook his head, "We do."

"No man, we don't." Shane said, "We're doing this. I get it. He was passed out when y'all brought him here, doesn't know where the farm is."

"That isn't what I need to talk to you about. I heard what really happened at the school." RIck cut him off as Shane sighed, knowing where this was going, "Was it to survive?"

Shane nodded his head, "Yeah. I and Otis thought that we already lost Chef at that point and I knew that one of us wasn't gonna make it out. It had to be him. One shot to the leg, Carl lives. Reality is he had no business being here there."

"You don't think I would've done it?" Rick asked.

"No, man,I know you wouldn't have." Shane answered.

"You don't think I can keep Lori or Carl safe?" Rick wanted to know.

"I didn't say that." Shane pointed out.

"Or my baby?" Rick added, "Is it gonna have to be me too?"

"Rick, you can't just be the good guy and expect to live. Okay?" Shane told him, "Not anymore."

"I'm not the good guy anymore." Rick shook his head as Shane glanced down, avoiding his gaze, "To save Carl's life, I would've done anything. Anything. Now Lori says your dangerous, but you're not gonna be dangerous. Not to us, not to me, not anymore. How about you look at me?"

Shane looked up at him as Rick leaned closer to him, making sure that Shane was going to hear everything he had to say to him, "You and Lori, I get what happened. When I figured it out-and I figured it out pretty quickly-I wanted to break your jaw, let you choke on your teeth. But I didn't. That wasn't weakness. It took everything. That is my wife. That is my son. That is my unborn child. I will stay alive to keep them alive. You don't love her. You think you do, but you don't. Now the only way you and me keep on is that you accept everything I just said right here,right now,and we move forward with that understanding."

Shane bit his lips as Rick turned away from him and began to walk towards their vehicle. The sheriff deputy stopped when his best friend spoke up to him, " When it started it was just a couple of weird stories on the news. Then it was so quick. Everything, it just happened. Two weeks later I'm in the hospital and there were soldiers shooting people in the halls. They were shooting people, man, not walkers. Then the walkers came through. You know,I tried to get you out,I tried,but we weren't gonna make it. Man,there was no way and I knew it. But I couldn't live with it. I couldn't live, knowing but I had to. I didn't keep Lori and Carl alive,man. They kept me alive. I want you to know that I didn't look at her before that. Brother, if I could take it all back, I would."

Rick remained silent for a few seconds before responding, "I wanna check the ropes."

He made his way to the trunk of the car and opened it, revealing Randall who was bound, gagged and blindfolded. Shane approached him and the two of them stared at Randall. Rick made sure to check if anything was any the young man somehow loosened his bounds.

After a moment, he turned back to look at Harold, Duncan and Tyler and made a gesture with his hands, telling them that they're going to head out now.

* * *

Bridgette walked up the the stairs into the porch before entering the farm house, with Noah walking closely behind her. Bridgette came into their camp a few minutes earlier and informed him that there was something that Maggie wanted to talk with him about. It was pretty obvious for the bookworm that she meant Glenn.

"Maggie!" The surfer called out for the farm girl, "I brought Noah!"

"I'm the kitchen!" Maggie answered, "Come in!"

The blond haired girl led Noah into the kitchen where they saw Maggie and Lori who were cutting some vegetables for the dinner.

Maggie stopped what she was doing and turned to look the bookworm, "Thank you for coming."

Noah looked at the Greene and asked, "What is it about Glenn that you wanted to talk about?"

"Did he say anything when you got back from town?" Maggie asked, "I tried asking DJ and Chris earlier, but they didn't want to talk about it. I asked Chef too, but he told me that Glenn didn't tell him anything."

"Why are you asking me?" Noah asked, confused why she thought about talking with him, "I wasn't in that town during that night."

"Well, you and Glenn are friends." Maggie explained, "I thought that he may have talked with you about that night."

"Friends?" Noah raised his brow, "We barely talked with each other before we arrived at your farm. We started talking recently after he told me and Dale about the secrets within our group before they were revealed."

"It doesn'a matter when you started talking with each other. Did he tell you anything?" Maggie insisted.

"No. He didn't tell me anything." Noah shook his head.

Maggie sighed after hearing Noah's answer, "It's just, he's not the same. Says he froze. Blames me. Says I got inside his head. I'm thinking, maybe I should apologize..."

"Don't apologize to him. It was his choice to come with Rick, Chef and Chris as I recall." Noah cut her off, "And no matter what happens, don't tell him to man up. I read that this is literally one of the worst advices you can give to someone."

Maggie nodded her head and looked down at the tray filled with food. She reached down to pick it up, "I should get this to Beth."

"No. You go on." Bridgette stepped forward and stopped next to Maggie, "I got it."

Maggie send the surfer a small grateful smile to which Bridgette smiled back in return. The surfer picked the tray up and carefully made her way to Beth's room, making sure that she was not going to drop it.

"Hey, Beth." She slowly opened the door to Beth's room, and walked inside, "I brought you some food."

Beth rolled over to the other side of the bed and sat up as Bridgette placed the tray on the commode next to Beth's bed. She looked down at the younger Greene and eyed her. Beth's was a bit pale, but it was easy for her to say that she was doing a little better. At least she wasn't unresponsive to any of their calls anymore.

"So, uh." Bridgette tried to start a conversation with her, "How about after you eat up all your food, we'll get you up and out of here and go take a walk. What do you say? It'll do good to be outside."

"I've been thinking." Beth said.

Bridgette titled her head, "Thinking about what?"

"About Lori." Beth explained, "She's pregnant. How can she have a baby in such world?"

"I don't know, and I'm not the one to judge, but I think it's a good thing." Bridgette answered, offering Beth a smile. She patted her on her shoulder, adding, "You eat something, and I'll be back in a few minutes."

* * *

Harold glanced through the window of the passanger seat as they drove past the sign saying " _Mert Country Department of Public Works_ ". Duncan who sat in the drivers seat next to him made sure to follow Rick and Shane. The car in front of them stopped and Rick who came out shorty after waved his hand at them, telling them to come out.

They did as they were told. Tyler was the first one to get out of the car, resting his baseball bat on his shoulder, followed by Harold who held his shotgun in ready just in case if he'll find himself in the situation that would require him to use it and Duncan held his bow in ready for the same reason.

They approached Shane and Rick who stood in front of the fence, watching the department of public works building and a huge yard around it, the latter declaring, "This will do."

"It's more than 18." Shane stated.

"Yeah, I'm looking for a place." Rick said in response.

"A place for what?" Tyler asked him.

"Give him a fair shake. A shot." Rick explained, "This place will do. We'll leave the boy here and scavenge some supplies."

"Tyler." Shane turned to the jock, "You take Duncan and Harold and look for anything useful while Rick and I will take care of Randall."

"Will do, Shane." Tyler nodded his head.

They heard some growling coming from the other side of the fence. They turned in the direction of it and saw a walker dressed in a guard uniform walking towards them. Shane instantly took out his pistol and aimed it at it to take it out but Harold stopped him.

"Don't." The nerdy teenager told him, pulling out the knife he got a over a week ago when he went out with Daryl, Andrea and Tyler to look for Sophia, "I'll take care of it."

He pressed his knife against his thumb and gritted his teeth at the pain he felt when he did a small cut on it. He pressed the thumb against the fence and the walker focus it's attention on him only as if Rick, Shane, Tyler, and Duncan didn't exist anymore. It pressed it's face against the fence, showing it's rotting teeth to the nerdy teenager who stabbed it in the head, getting rid of it.

It was just seconds before they heard another undead heading their way. Harold was about to use the same trick on it, but Duncan loaded an arrow into his bow and made sure that the pointy end of an arrow was sticking to the other side of the fence. He released the arrow which hit the undead straight in the head, killing it instantly.

"Good work." Rick told them, "You didn't made any noise to drag more of them to us."

They opened the gate towards the area in front of them and split into two groups. Shane and Rick walked back to their car and took Randall out from the trunk and started taking him to a place where they would leave him, holding him on both of his sides to make sure he wasn't going to break off and escape which was rather unlikely to happen because the young man was still blindfolded, but it wouldn't hurt them to be cautious.

* * *

Harold, Duncan and Tyler walked into the building in order to find anything useful for their group and proceeded to walk through it. Tyler had his baseball bat raised in the air as he walked in the front. He slowly opened the entrance to one of the rooms and walked into it. He shook his head at the view of two things inside. One thing was a man, who was clearly dead for a while now and the other one was a walker who laid next to the first body. A bullet hole between it's eyes.

"You guys go check it out." Tyler told Duncan and Harold, turning back to look at them, "I'll check the other room."

The jock walked out of the room that he just took a quick peek in and headed towards another one, leaving Harold and Duncan alone. The nerd and the juvie exchanged a look with each other. These two weren't fans of each other for a long time and everyone knew it.

Duncan was the first one to enter the room. He took a good look at it, asking, "What the hell happened here?"

Harold was right behind him. He remained for a moment and looked around the room. His eyes widened when he saw an inscription at the ceiling. He pointed at it and said, "Look up."

Duncan looked at the ceiling and his eyes widened after reading the inscription that said.

_"They took her away from me. I had no other reason to live for in this shitty new world."_

Harold sighed, "He lost his wife and had no other reason to live for."

"Poor guy." Duncan stated, moving towards the desk. He pushed an empty pill bottle off it, assuming it to be the way how this unknown man ended his life. He started searching through the drawers, not finding anything useful as the room was engulfed in a silence, the only sound coming out of it was the sound of Duncan searching for supplies.

The silence was broken by Harold who said to the juvie, "You've changed."

Duncan looked up at him, confused. This came out of nowhere, "What's that supposed to mean, Doris?"

"I mean exactly what you think I mean, Duncan." Harold said as Duncan stopped searching the room. The juvie walked to the front of the desk and leaned against it, in front of the two bodies, not noticing that the man was starting to wake up. Harold didn't notice it either as he continued, "The Duncan I knew from Total Drama wouldn't do most of the things you did since Atlanta was bombed."

The juvie quickly shook his head, "I have no idea what are you talking about. Everything that I did had to be done."

"You risked your life when you were going out to look for Sophia with Daryl. You almost died while looking for her when you attacked by the walker by suprise and despise that you haven't given and wanted to continue to look for her." Harold said to clarify his point. Duncan sighed. Harold just like everyone else except for Chef had no idea about Timothy and that he was the same group as Randall, "I know that you did this because you didn't Carol to feel the same way as your aunt did, but it wasn't the only good thing that you did. You went with me, Chef, Rick, Glenn and T-Dog to find Merle, even though you didn't had to, and T-Dog told us that you and Daryl saved him on the highway when that herd passed by our group."

"What are you trying to say by that, Doris?" Duncan wanted to know.

"I already told you what I mean by that. You've changed for the better." Harold answered, "You're not the same Duncan I hated during the two seasons of Total Drama."

Duncan didn't had a chance to reply to Harold's words as the man rose up from the floor as a walker and attacked the one that was closer to it. Duncan clenched his teeth as he placed his hands on the walkers shoulder to push it away from himself as Harold quickly reacted to what was happening at this moment and slammed the walker right in it's head with the back of his shotgun. The walker growled as it turned it attention towards the nerdy teenager who slammed it one more time. The undead collapsed on the floor as Harold quickly finished it off by crushing it's forehead with the back of his shotgun.

"Thanks." Duncan sighed in relief. That was a close one.

"I did owned you one." Harold reminded him, "That one time when we arrived in CDC."

"Yeah." The juvie gave a short chuckle in response, recalling the situation that Harold just mentioned, "How did this guy become a walker? Didn't he overdose those pills?"

"I don't know." Harold said, kneeling in front of the now dead walker, starting to search every part of it's body, "Maybe he was bitten or scratched, which may have been another reason why he decided to end his own life."

"Are you searching his body just to find a bite?" Duncan asked.

"I want to be sure." Harold said, continuing his search. It lasted a minute or two and the results confirmed one thing. This man indeed didn't had a single bite or a scratch on his body. He searched through his body one more time and the results were the same, "I can't find anything."

"What do you mean you can't find anything? It doesn't make sense." Duncan stated, "How did he became one of those things, even though he wasn't bitten or scratched?"

"I'm confused as much as you are." Harold said, as he turned towards the exit from this room, "We need to tell Rick, Shane and Tyler about this."

Duncan nodded his head before they heard the sound of someone fighting off a walker, probably in one of the other rooms or maybe somewhere outside, followed by someone screaming. They quickly recognized this voice as Tyler's. Harold quickly readied his shotgun while Duncan took out his pistol. They ran out of the room and ran towards the doors from which the sound was coming from and it led them outside.

They saw Tyler who had just gotten rid of a walker and proceeded to smash his baseball bat on the walkers head, until there was nothing left of it. This was something that Tyler has been doing since Lindsay died, but now wasn't done it, even after it's head became nothing but a red bloody mush. The sound of his bat colliding with the ground rang through Duncan's and Harold's ears.

"That's enough, Tyler!" Harold shouted, making Tyler stop, "Can't you see that it's head is already gone."

Tyler turned back at them and showed them off his bloodied baseball bat, "I did that to make sure that it wasn't going to hurt any people."

"Tyler. This has to end." Harold said, as Tyler sighed, already knowing where this was going, "I know that you must be sick of this, but you really need to get some help. Things are only getting worse with you as the time passes..."

"Are you trying to say that you're worried about me?" Tyler cut him off. He was done with people telling him how worried they are about him, "This is the only thing that you've been talking about me since we left CDC! That you're worried about me. Even though everything is perfectly normal with me!"

Harold sighed, "Tyler. I wish I could say this, but you're not okay. Ever since Lindsay died,

Tyler glared at the nerdy teenager, "I told you already. Don't bring Lindsay into this."

"Or are you going to punch me again?" Harold asked. He knew that bringing Lindsay into this discussion was not the best idea, but it was something that had to be done.

"I punched you back there because you deserved it for using someone who is dead as an example, because you were disagreeing with me about something." Tyler pointed out, "How would you feel if the roles were reversed and I used Leshawna as an example for you?"

"I only brought Lindsay up as an example because you did first when you asked how DJ would feel is he saw his Momma as a walker." Harold pointed our in return. He couldn't blame Tyler for doing it on the day when DJ found out that his Momma was dead all along and was in the barn along with Sophia, because none of them had an idea about her being there, "Tyler. I know that you miss Lindsay. I miss her too. She was my friend and I wish that we arrived sooner at the camp when the walkers attacked, but what already happened can't be changed. What you can do now is to do what she'd want you to do. Tell me. Would she want you to act the way you did for the past weeks?"

Tyler closed his eyes and clenched his fist. He took a deep breath. He opened his eyes and looked at Harold. His expression turned into a frown which turned into a glare as Tyler raised his fist, intending to punch Harold for another time, but his fist was stopped in the mid-air by Duncan.

"What?" He asked, confused that Duncan wouldn't let him punch Harold. Duncan sometimes did worse things to Harold than a simple punch. Like the one time during Total Drama Action when he fell right on top of him while Harold was sitting on the horse during the western challenge, "Are you trying to stop me from punching him? I thought that you hated each other!"

"Just calm down, man." Duncan said to Tyler.

Tyler responded by raising his other fist, his baseball bat falling on the ground with a loud bang. Duncan didn't had a time to react as Tyler punched him straight in the face. The juvie stumbled back, letting go off Tyler's other fist. He moved towards Tyler, punching the juvie two times in the chest as Harold's eyes widened, realizing that Tyler wasn't going to stop with a single punch. He had to do something.

He dropped his shotgun and made his way to Tyler to stop him from amplying more punches on Duncan's body and Tyler quickly noticed it. He saw how Harold swung his fist at him, but because of the obvious built differences between the two teenagers, the jock easily dodged Harold's fist by simply catching it in the mid-air. He headbutted Harold who was suprised that it didn't broke his glance as he stumbled backwards.

Now that Tyler's attention was focused on Harold, Duncan finally had a chance to respond to Tyler's punches. He grabbed Tyler by the jock's shoulder, making him turn to him, and punched him straight in the face. The punch was so hard that it made Tyler fell on his knees as Harold walked over to Duncan, now that their a rather short fight with Tyler was over.

"You still can't understand." The jock shook his head, holding his jaw in pain as he slowly stood up from the ground, "You can't understand that everything I've been doing since we left the CDC was to protect our group from sharing the same fate as her!"

"Protect our group?" Duncan asked, "How was leaving Sophia behind, when we thought that she was still alive was to protect our group? Did you forget that she was a member of our group too?"

"That was hard but a right choice to make and I was right about it!" Tyler shouted, "When I realized that we will never find Sophia, I was angry at myself for even thinking like that, but this was something that our group had to face! We had to face the fact that looking for her after a few days was just putting our lives in danger for nothing! You and Daryl almost died while looking for someone who was dead for christs' sake! I, Shane and Andrea could have died when we went out to look for her! We couldn't keep risking our lives for a lost cause!"

"I and Daryl may have almost died while looking for her, but we knew the risks we were taking when we were going out!" Duncan pointed out,

"You knew the risk and yet, depise knowing how dangerous can this world be, you agreed with Rick when he made us sleep with a barn filled with walker in your backyard and made us gunless while doing so just to please some deluded guy." Tyler retorted, "You're attempting to live like we were in the old world again. The world that ended in the moment when we crashed in the forest. The world that we used to live in is long gone! It took someone the death of someone that I loved for me to understand that!"

"Hold on, Tyler." Harold said, "I know that you weren't fan of Rick's recent decisions, but he's not a weak leader. He did what he thought was right to keep everyone from our group safe."

"He did that by keeping us in danger? He doesn't know how to keep our group safe! Shane knows how to do that." Tyler told him. "He knows in what kind of a world we live in right now. He made sure to teach us how to fire a gun, and made sure that each member of our group will have a weapon. He made sure that we will not live with walkers in our backyard, despise most of our group telling him not to do it."

"Rick was about to take care of it with Chef once they'd make sure that Hershel was going to let us stay on his farm and convice him to to let us have our guns." Harold pointed out.

"And how long would that take? Would leaving us without any firearms keep us safe? Dale would hide them somewhere in the forest if I and Shane didn't caught him in time! He had the same point as you do right now! That Rick will take care of it, but he was certainly taking his time to take care of it unlike Shane instantly knew what had to be done with those walkers in the barn!" Tyler told them, "What would happen if the walkers somehow broke out from the barn and we wouldn't have idea about it until they'd attack us? I don't know about you guys but I don't want more people to die in our group."

"What did you just say?" Harold asked.

"I don't want more people to die, okay!" Tyler shouted, "We already lost so many people from our group. Lindsay, Amy, Jim, Jacqui, Sophia, many people from our camp in Atlanta, or even Drake. I don't want to see more people torn apart by those things, or even worse, become one of them!"

He sighed before continuing. Harold made sure to listen carefully to everything he had to say. Even Duncan listened carefully to the jock, "You asked me what would Lindsay want me to do. I think she'd want me prevent to keep everyone from sharing her fate. That is why I'm doing everything that has to be done to keep our group safe. That is why I'm killing every walker I can see and make sure that they will never come back. Sometimes, when I see a walker, I can see her laying on the ground with a hole in her stomach, crying..."

The jock clenched his fist in anger. Everytime when he saw a walker, he could see Lindsay crying moments before dying with a hole in her stomach, Andrea crying over bitten Amy before her younger sister bleed out, or infected them Jim sitting against a tree during his last moments. That is why he will always kill every walker that will be get even close his group and will make sure that it was never stand up ever again.

"That is why I am always destroying the skull into pieces. To make sure that it will not return. To make sure that it will not make it's way back to our group and bit off a piece off flesh from someone's neck." Tyler said, "You may not understand it now, but I'm sure that you will as the time will pass."

There was other thing Tyler was certain. If the situation would ever require him to put his life in danger to save someone that could be saved from the walkers or from something else, even if it would be someone like Heather, then he would do it. He would risk his life for this person, just to not see her or him torn into shreds by those things.

Harold and Duncan were about to respond to his words, but they were cut off when they heard some growling behind them. They turned in the direction of this growling and saw several walkers walking towards them. Their fight must have lead the undead straight to them.

* * *

Bridgette and Lori made their way back to Beth's room to take the blond haired Greene on a walk wit them. The first thing that they spotted after entering the room was Beth sobbing as she sat up on the bed.

"Hey." The surfer said to the younger Greene, earning her attention, "I know that this must be hard for you. I myself tried to reach my parents, or my boyfriend, or my friends for days after Atlanta was bombed..."

Beth cut her off by stating, "It's just so pointless."

"No, it isn.t." Lori shook her head, "You have your sister, your father, Patricia and Jimmy. And you've gotta stay strong for them. I wish I could promise you it would be all right in the end. I can't,but we can make now all right. And we have to."

The younger Greene turned to look at them, "Thank you, both of you."

"We'll be right back. We'll go take that walk." Lori said, rubbing Beth's head as Bridgette picked the tray up. They walked out of the room and made their way to the kitchen.

Ths surfer placed the tray next to the sink and noticed that something was missing when she picked a fork, "Uh, Lori?"

"Yes?" Lori asked, approaching Bridgette.

"Wasn't there a knife along with the fork?" Bridgette asked.

Lori glanced down at the tray and saw that the knife was indeed missing. They exchange a worried look as the realization of what most likely happened to it and who took it quickly popped into their minds as they quickly broke themselves into run back to Beth's room.

"Beth?" Bridgette asked Beth who didn't respond to her words as she was laying on the bed, with her back facing them both..

"You give it to me, sweetheart." Lori said shorty after, "You don't wanna do this."

Beth remained silent as she didn't even look at them. She lifted her hand up to show Lori and Bridgette the knife that she took from the tray. Lori took the knife from her and looked at the surfer who quickly realized what she should do next.

She ran out of the house towards their camp and called out to Andrea who was on the watch duty on Dale's RV, "Hey, Andrea!"

Andrea looked down at her, "Yes?"

"Have you seen Maggie or Hershel?" Bridgette asked her.

"I haven't seen Hershel, but DJ left about an hour go, telling us that he is going to do something with him and I saw Maggie and Glenn walk by maybe 20 minutes ago." Andrea answered.

"Could you find her?" Bridgette asked her another question, "I've gotta get back to the house."

Andrea nodded her head, "Of course."

"What's going on?" Gwen asked, approaching them with Leshawna.

Bridgette sighed, "Help Andrea find Maggie and I'll tell you. This is about Beth. I'll be with her and Lori in the house."

Leshawna and Gwen nodded their heads and walked off along with Andrea who climbed down the RV to find Maggie.

* * *

Randall tried to say something to Shane and Rick as they were leading him through the yard, but because of the gag in his mouth, all they could hear from him were some muffles noises. They brought him to his knees and removed the bag from his head, finally allowing him to take a good look at his surroundings.

"What the hell is this?" He asked them.

His question went without an answer as Rick and Shane started to walk away from him. He quickly realized that they were going to leave him in this place and he didn't want to be left alone in this place. He was certain that he wasn't going to last long if he'd be left all alone.

He quickly turned back to see them walking away, starting to plead him to not leave him. "Oh, come on, don't be stupid. I owe you guys. I can help protect what you've got. Why would you save my life just to kill me by leaving me here? One guy can't make it alone. That's why I was with those dudes, I was alone!"

Rick and Shane remained unresponsive to his calls. Rick pulled out a knife and shared a quick look with Shane before throwing it on the ground, a few meters away from Randall. After that, they proceeded to walk away from the young man.

He continued to plead them, "Don't be stupid! I'm not like them! I'm just some guy I used to watch football and screw around on the internet. I lived with my mom! I lost her like you lost people. I went to school with Maggie for god's sake!..."

Rick and Shane stopped after hearing him mention Maggie and that was he attending school with her. They turned around to look at him and started to walk back to the young man.

"You went to school with Maggie?" Rick asked, wanting to be sure that he didn't misheard it.

"Answer the question!" Shane demanded, "Did you go to school with Maggie?"

"I-it-she didn't know me." Randall stuttered out as Rick and Shane stopped in front of him, "Didn't even know I existed. I mean I knew her. I knew who her dad was. There is no way I would ever do anything to hurt her or her family."

"Jesus." Shane rubbed his head, "He knows where the farm is, Rick. Where we are. He knows. Say he finds his way back to his people..."

He reached out for his pistol and aimed it at Randall. Rick's eyes widened as he quickly reacted to it, moving Shane's pistol away from Randall, "Shane, no!"

The pistol fired and the bullet hit the ground right next to Randall as Shane collapsed on the ground, "Not now. Just not now."

"Well, when, Rick?" Shane wanted to know, "When?"

Shane's pistol slided across the ground after Rick kicked it, his gaze not leaving Shane, "When I've had a chance to think about it."

"Don't let him kill me." Randall pleaded, already fearing the worst, "Please don't."

"Shut up!" Rick shushed Randall, taking a quick look at him over his shoulder, before turning back to Shane, "We're going back. It's a man's life. I need a night to think it through."

"You're gonna bring this piece of garbage." Shane scoffed and pointed at Randall, "This piece of garbage who-shot at you, Rick. He ran with men who tried to kill you. You gonna bring him back to where Lori sleeps? To where Carl sleeps?"

"He'll be locked up in the barn." Rick told him, "Unless you bust it open."

Shane shook his head, "Oh, don't start that shit."

"I'm taking the night." Rick repeated himself.

"Man, you take that- you think on it, Rick. Keep struggling with it. It ain't hard,man." Shane said, beginning to raise his words as he stood up from the ground, "The right choice is the one that keeps us alive. It's always the same with you. It's like the first moment it's whenever you're put to the test."

"Stop acting like you know the way ahead, like you know the rules." Rick argued, coming closer to Shane, "There are no rules,man. We're lost."

"No, man." Shane said as Rick stopped in front of him, "I know exactly where I am."

"You don't know shit anymore." Rick stated.

" I don't think you can do it, Rick." Shane shook his head.

"It's my call, man." Rick pointed out.

" I don't think you can keep them safe." Shane stated.

Rick stopped and stared at Shane for a moment, glare forming on his face. It was when Shane finally crossed the line. He charged at him, shoving Shane against the police car that was nearby as Shane responded to it by headbutting. He stumbled back a bit, and fell on his fours as Shane started reaching for Rick's gun that was in the holster.

The sheriff deputy quickly got himself back on his feet and knocked his Python off Shane's grasp and shoved him against the police car once again. He punched him a few times before Shane wrapped his arms around him and threw him on the front of the car.

They were unaware that Randall who just watched their fight for a few seconds slowly started to make his way towards the knife that Rick threw on the ground a few moments ago

The fight between Rick and Shane continued as the latter shoved the former against a truck. Rick punched him in the face as Shane responded by elblowing him in the stomach. He grabbed Rick and threw him aside as Rick rolled across the ground for a few seconds. Shane used his opportunity and moved towards the police motorcycle and pushed it at Rick who grunted in pain as the motorcycle fell on his legs.

Shane turned away from and started moving towards his pistol that Rick kicked away and was currently under the firetruck. He reached down and picked it up, He moved towards Randall and saw the young man crawling towards the knife. He shook his head and about to take the shot, intending to take care of this problem once and for all, but was stopped.

"No!" Rick cried out, wrapping his arms around Shane. He threw himself on the ground along with Shane and the two wrestled for a few seconds before Rick got himself on Shane. He grabbed him by his shirt and started punching him straight in the face. He stopped after a few punches, thinkin that it was enough as Randall finally made his way to the knife and started to cut his bounds.

"You're not doing this! You don't get to make these calls anymore." Rick told Shane, who slowly stood up from the ground, "I won't let you."

Shane glared at him before picking up a wrench which happened to be laying nearby. He screamed as he threw right at Rick but missed it's target and hit the window next to Rick, breaking it into pieces.

It was when they heard some growling inside the building and it was just a matter of seconds before the first walker crawled through the broken window. Rick panted and quickly started to make him way away from the window, but he wasn't fast enough and the undead grabbed his shoulders. RIck's reaction was quick and he stabbed it in the forehead.

It was when more walkers started coming through the broken window as Rick placed the walker that he just killed over him, as all of the walkers walked past him, not noticing him, picking Shane as their only target who started to make him away away from them.

* * *

Andrea, Gwen and Leshawna managed to find Maggie and brought her to the house where they were informed what Beth wanted to do. Maggie quickly went to have a talk with her sister about it while Lori, Bridgette, Gwen and Leshawna stayed in the kitchen, allowing them to talk in private.

"Should we go to look for Hershel?" Gwen asked.

"He doesn't want to find out yet." Lori shook her head, "It's a family affair. We'll let them work it out."

"That's working it out?" Andrea asked, hearing the two sisters arguing.

"When Beth stops fighting, that's when it's time to worry." Lori stated.

Andrea sighed, "This could've been handled better."

"How so?" Bridgette raised her brow.

"You two shouldn't have taken the knife away." Andrea said to Lori and Bridgette, making everyone's eyes go wide in shock that she'd even say something like this.

"...What?" Gwen asked after a moment in disbelief.

"Girl, are you crazy?" Leshawna asked, not believing what Andrea just said.

"You were wrong, like Dale taking my gun. That wasn't your decision." Andrea pointed out, "She has to choose to live on her own. She has to find her own reasons."

"Like what? Letting her kill herself?" Leshawna crossed her arms.

Gwen glared at Andrea, adding, "How we'll tie a noose for her? This is what you want us to do?"

"If she's serious, she'll figure out a way." Andrea stated.

"Doesn't mean we can't stop her or let her know that we care." Bridgette pointed out to which Lori, Gwen and Leshawna nodded in agreement.

"That has nothing to do with it, guys." Andrea stated, "She only has so many choices in front of her,and she believes the best one is suicide."

"That's not an option." Lori stated.

"Of course it is." Andrea said, "She doesn't need to be yelled at or treated like a child."

"She needs a loaded gun, right?" Lori asked, "You'll understand if I don't send you in there."

"I came through it." Andrea answered.

"And became such a productive member of the group." Lori stated.

"We should just Maggie handle this her way." Bridgette added, "Then we'll see what can we do."

"I contribute. I help keep this place safe." Andrea pointed out to Lori, ignoring what Bridgette just said.

"The men can handle this on their own." Lori stated as everyone else exchanged confused look, not understanding her point right now, "They don't need your help."

"What does that have to do with anything Lori?" Gwen asked in confusion. She was on Lori's side for most of the argument. What Andrea said letting Beth decide if she wants to commit suicide or not was wrong, but what Lori just said just stupid and didn't made any sense.

"What I'm trying to say is that she doesn't about anyone but herself." Lori explained, as she shifted her attention from the goth at Andrea, "You sit up on that RV, working on your tan with a shotgun in your lap."

"This argument doesn't make any sense, girl." Leshawna stated, clearly confused why Lori even started this conversation about the way how Andrea contributes for the group, making Lori stare at her, "Everyone should contribute in the way they want to. It doesn't matter if it's doing laundry, or keeping watch."

"And this shouldn't be an important conversation right now." Gwen added, to which Leshawna nodded in agreement.

"Thank you, both of you." Andrea said to Leshawna and Gwen, before turning her attention back to Lori, "And in case if you forgot, I, Leshawna, Bridgette and Gwen were going out to the town back when we were in Atlanta to gather some supplies for our group. Does that make Gwen and Leshawna selfish too because they weren't doing laundry after that?"

"Look we are providing stability. We are trying to create a life worth living." Lori told her, as he turned to look at Bridgette, excepting her to least take her side on this one, "Bridgette?"

"I'm sorry, but I'm with them on this one." Bridgette shook her head, looking just as suprised as Gwen, Andrea and Leshawna that Lori brought this up, especially now when Beth was thinking about ending her own life, "I can't actually believe that you would bring up something like that right now. The way how Andrea contributes for our group shouldn't matter."

Seeing how the tables have turned against her, after bringing up Andrea's contribution to the coversation, Lori said, 'Look, I went after Rick. I took down two walkers."

"Of course, because killing two walkers makes you a wonderful expert." A familiar voice sounded in their ears as everyone turned to the source of it and saw Glenn and Noah standing in the entrance to the kitchen.

"Noah? Glenn?" Gwen asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I was just minding my own business in our camp when Glenn came and told me what happened with Beth. We went to this house and heard this argument." Noah explained, "That was a nice way to bring something like that to Andrea, Lori. Tell me, does coming after your husband includes crashing Maggie's car?"

"Did you even apologized for that?" Andrea added.

Lori shook her head, "You're insane."

"What are you talking about?" Noah began, "We're insane because we don't agree with you? Because Andrea is doing the work that you think only men should handle? In that case maybe we shouldn't ask Bridgette to use her medical training anymore, because this isn't a job for her? Or DJ shouldn't be making food for us, because this isn't a job for him?"

"Noah..." Lori tried to say something to him but the bookworm wouldn't let her. He wanted her to hear everything he had to say to her.

Noah cut her off and continued, "Let me finish. You say that you drove for find your husband, but your forgot to mention that your went to find him by yourself and ended up crashing Maggie's car while being pregnant, and the funniest thing about it, you thought that me, Izzy and Ezekiel lying about Rick being back at the farm was worse than what you did."

"And you're the one that's self-centered, the way you take it all for granted." Andrea added to which Noah nodded his head in agreement. Leshawna, Bridgette, Gwen and Glenn just remained silent and listened to the argument.

"My husband is out there for the hundredth time." Lori glared at them, "My son was shot. Don't you dare tell me I take this for granted."

"You don't get it, do you? Your husband came back from the dead, your son too. And now you've got a baby on the way." Andrea pointed out, returning the glare, "The rest of us have piled up our losses me, Carol, Tyler, DJ, Beth, but you just keep on keeping on."

Lori shook her head, "We have all suffered."

"But at least we're not laying rules for everybody but ourselves, like you do, and I don't even think that you're in the position to do it, only because your husband is leading our group." Noah pointed out as he returned the glare too, "We all were doing something in our camp in Atlanta. I was catching fish along with Owen and Ezekiel, Andrea was doing the same with Amy, and was going out to Atlanta. Leshawna, Bridgette and Gwen were going out too, and don't forget that Bridgette was taking care of someone when this person was wounded, despise her medical traning being just a basic one, while you just sat on your ass for most of the time and spread your legs to Shane."

With that being said, Noah turned away from Lori and walked out from the kitchen, heading towards the living room, ignoring the glare that she gave him after mentioning Shane.

"Hey, Noah." Glenn followed him and thought for a second if he should ask this question before asking, "Was that neccesary?

"Yes." Noah nodded his head as he sat down on the couch, "It was."

* * *

Rick panted as he was making his way away from the walkers. He got himself on the ground and started looking around, attempting to find his Python between the cars. He sighed in relief when he saw it laying underneath of one of the cars and quickly reaching his hand to grab it as the undead were getting closer to him. He grabbed his Python and aimed it right at the approaching walker.

He got rid of it with a simple shot in it's head, making it now lifeless body collaps on top of him. He aimed his Python at another walker, but this one unfortunely missed and the walker laid itself on the body on top of Rick as the one that was right behind it was taken out with an arrow which landed right in the back of it's head.

Rick saw the body of the walker collapsed on the ground and saw Duncan and Harold coming his way. He made sure to the the walker that was laying on top of the body laying on him as Harold and Duncan ran over to him and got the bodies off him, allowing Rick to get back on his feet.

"Thanks." Rick thanked them to which the two teenagers nodded, "Where's Tyler?"

"He went the other way." Harold explained.

"We need get out of here." Duncan stated when they heard more walkers coming their way.

* * *

Maggie walked back and forth through her sister's room. She shook her head and she she sat down on the bed, next to her sister. She tried to talk her sister out of it, but no matter what she said, Beth's mind about ending her own life stayed the same.

"Mom would be ashamed to learn she raised such a coward." She said to Beth as she sat next to her sister, "What about dad, Beth?"

"He's clueless." Beth stated, "He had us waiting for a cure."

"He knows he was wrong." Maggie pointed out.

"When has dad ever admitted he was wrong?" Beth pointed our in return, "He's just telling Rick's group what they want to hear."

"And Jimmy?" Maggie asked her, "What about him?"

"We went out for three months and now I'm married to him?" Beth asked her in return.

"And me? You could do that to me?" Maggie wanted to know, "I can't take another funeral."

"You can't avoid it." Beth stated, "What are we waiting for? We should both do it."

Maggie couldn't believe her ears. She asked "What?" in disbelief.

"At the same time. Help each other." Beth explained.

"No." Maggie shook her head.

"It's hard to do it. No wants wants to but..." Beth began.

"No, please don't." Maggie said but her sister continued as if she didn't ever heard her.

Beth continued, ignoring what her sister just said to her, "We can do it so it's peaceful, easy."

Maggie placed her hands on Beth's shoulders, "Stop talking like that."

"Our choice, and then it would be over." Beth said, "Or we'll be forced to do it when the farm and this house is overrun. No one can protect us."

"That's not true." Maggie stated, shaking her head.

"Who, Glenn or that friend of his Noah? Or that girl you've been hanging out lately? Bridgette?" Beth asked, feeling like she was seconds away from bursting into tears as Maggie went silent at the mention, "I heard what happened. Rick will save his family, the others too. We're alone. You, me, Patricia, with only dad and Jimmy against a whole world of those things. I don't wanna be gutted. I wanna go in this bed tonight with you beside me. Please..."

* * *

Shane grunted as he quickly got himself into an abandoned school bus, shutting the doors behind him to make sure that the walkers chasing him weren't going to get him. He pressed his back against the doors as the walkers continued to slam their hands against them.

"Hey!" He heard someone call out to them, earning the attention of some of the walkers, "I'm here!"

The walkers that heard him turned to the source of the voice and saw Tyler standing in front of them with his baseball bat in ready. He knew that there was too many of them for only him, but he knew that he could save Shane from them. He is going to do everything he can. He glared at the walkers as they started making their way towards them, after all, he was much an easier catch for them than Shane who locked himself in the bus. Tyler swung his baseball bat at the walker that happened to the closest one to him.

The hit was so strong that it made the undead's jaw fell off it's head as Tyler ignored it and hit the walker one more time, as it collapsed on the ground. He was about to finish it off by crushing it's skull, but was stopped by another walker from doing so. The walked growled as it practically shoved itself towards Tyler who jumped back in suprise and quickly swung his baseball bat at it, slamming it on the undead's head.

The undead stumbled back as Tyler finished it off by slamming his weapon on top of it's head. He heard how the lifeless corpse a walker collapsed on the ground before turning his attention towards another walker, but was taken by suprise when it was shot right in it's head, killing it instantly.

It was when he heard someone driving towards him and Shane. He looked over his shoulder and saw two cars heading their way. Rick and Randall were in the first one while Harold and Duncan drove closely behind them in the other one.

"Shane!" Rick cried out to Shane, "Go for the back door!"

Shane quickly jumped into his feet and started running through the school bus, heading towards the back door as Duncan and Harold stopped next to Tyler.

"Get in!" Duncan told him as Tyler did as he told and quickly hopped into the back seat of the car. Shane opened the back doors of the bus with a firm kick and quickly hopped into the car through the opened window as Duncan, Harold and Tyler broke through the gate and started driving away from this place. Randall quickly drove the car backwards, crushing the skull of the walker laying on the ground and turned it's direction the now opened gate, driving right behind the the teenagers.

The last sight they had of this place was the undead walking through the gate into the streets, chasing after them, but it was obvious that they weren't going to reach them.

* * *

Maggie walked into the room to see that her sister wasn't on the bed. She eyed the room in confusion whe she heard someone crying in the bathroom. The worst scenario immediately popped into her mind as she ran over to the doors to the bathroom and started knocking.

"Beth?" She asked, "Beth?"

"Maggie?" Bridgette asked her as she entered the room with Gwen and Leshawna, "What's going on?"

They didn't had to wait long for Maggie to reply, "She's in there. I heard glass."

Bridgette's, Gwen's and Leshawna's eyes snapped open after hearing this as they pushed themselves into run towards the bathroom to help Maggie open the door and stop her sister from doing something to herself.

Bridgette was the first one to reach Maggie and called out to the younger Greene in worry, "Beth, you all right?"

"Don't do this, girl." Leshawna was right behind Bridgette, "I know that the last few days were hard for you but we'll help you get through this."

Maggie shook her head in worry as she went over to the cupboard and started searching through the cabinets, "God, I left her with Andrea."

"Where's the key?" Gwen asked her.

"I don't know." Maggie answered, as she stopped searching through the cabinets and went back to the door as Bridgette, Gwen and Leshawna all split around the room and started searching for the key, "Beth honey, please open the door. I'm not mad. I'm not mad, Beth."

It was when Gwen saw something laying in the corner of the room. It was a crowbar. An idea what to do with it instantly popped into her head as she picked it up and walked back to the door to the bathroom. It took her only a few seconds to open it. The doors shut open, revealing the sight of crying Beth as she held her bloody wrist to everyone.

"I'm sorry." She cried as Maggie walked over to her to give her a hug, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Maggie assured her as she wrapped her arm around Beth's right side, beginning to lead her out from the bathroom, "It's okay."

"Let's patch you up." Bridgette said to the younger Greene, wrapping her arm around her other side, as Beth gave her a small nod in response as they took her out from the room.

* * *

Rick, Shane, Duncan, Harold and Tyler stopped their vehicles in the middle of the road to take care of one thing before they'll head back to the farm. They bounded, gagged and blindfolded Randall again who was obviously not a fan of this idea, but they didn't care about. Rick picked the young man from the ground and placed hm in the trunk of his car.

He turned away from the trunk to look at his group again and said, "Let's go back to the farm."

"Hey, Doris." Duncan said to Harold as they approached their car. The nerd turned to look at the juvie and hummed, "We cool, now?"

Harold gave him a quick nod of his head, "Yeah. We cool now."

Duncan nodded his head in response as they got themselves in the car. Duncan took the driver seat while Harold sat in the passenger seat next to him. Tyler got himself into the car shorty after, the jock taking the seats in the back.

"Hey, Tyler." Harold said to the jock.

"What?" The red clothed teenager asked him.

"I understand now why you did everything you did." Harold told him. Everything that Tyler did during the last days was because this is what the jock thought that had to be done to keep everyone safe. To prevent everyone from sharing the same fate as Lindsay.

Tyler sighed, "I just don't want to see more people from our group killed by those things."

"Don't worry." Harold gave him an assuring smile, "I assure you that more of us won't die."

"Do you believe in that?" Tyler asked, wishing to believe in what Harold just said, but a part of him didn't want to.

"There is something we all have to believe, don't we? The farm is isolated, and we barely see a walker enter it's area." Harold told him. They just had to figure out what to do with Randall.

Tyler sighed, once again, and if there will ever a situation in which he would have to risk his life to save someone that he knows can be saved, then he will do it, without hesitation, "If you say so."

Rick waited until the teenagers would get into their car and approached Shane, intending to say something to him about what happened today, If you wanna kill me,you're gonna have to do better than a wrench. Probably gonna have to kill that boy,but I am gonna think about it a night. It can't be that easy,killing someone,killing anyone. You know that. That is my wife. That is my son. That is my child. If you're gonna be with us,you gotta follow my lead,you gotta trust me."

Shane stayed silent, his gaze on the ground as he didn't reply to anything that Rick just said to him. He looked up at him and they exchanged a look with each other as Rick pulled out the pistol that Shane lost during their fight and held it out to him, "It's time for you to come back."

Shane took the pistol from Rick who got himself into the car right after, waiting for Shane to get inside as well. He didn't had to wait long. Shane got himself into the car a few seconds later and Rick made a gesture with his hand to Duncan, telling the juvie that they're heading out now. They started up their cars and started driving towards the farm.

When they drove through the country road, they could spot a lonely walker walking through the fields. Shane's gaze followed the walker for a few seconds before it disappeared from his view.

* * *

**I love the soundtrack at the end of this episode so much. Only 3 more chapters left in season 2!**

**What are your thoughts about the finale of season 10? I personally liked it. I was happy when Connie turned to be out alive (She's my favourite from Magna's group). Seeing Maggie again after over a season and a half was great too (I wonder who is the person that came with her. Hope we'll find more about them in the next season), and I can't wait to see Maggie confronting Negan now that he was let out from his cell.**

**I actually liked the way how Beta went down. Him being torn to shreds by walkers** **with a grin of his face and without letting out a single scream was a great way for him to go.** **It was so much better for him than what we got in the comics. Just wish the that fight between him and Negan and Daryl was a bit longer, but let's be honest here, the fight wasn't going to last that much either way, especially with them surrounded by so many walkers,**

**I can't wait for season 11 and to see how they're going to deal with the Commonwealth, now that Eugene, Ezekiel, Yumiko and Princess came across the soldiers from this place in the final scene. I wonder if Rick is going to appear again in this season. I would love to see Morgan return as well. It would be awesome to see the two characters that the show started with return in it's final season.**


	17. Judge, Jury, Executioner

Duncan stared at the shed ahead of him as he was slowly making his way towards it. That shed was the place where Randall was placed by the group after the recent events and Daryl was the one who was picked to interogatte him. The juvie felt like his time to ask Randall about Timothy was running out and decided to finally go and have a talk with him about it.

He approached the shed and leaned his head against the entrance to it, to make sure that Randall wasn't currently telling anything important to Daryl about his group. The only thing that he heard was Daryl punching and slamming Randall against the wall, who groaned in pain and it was enough for Duncan to understand that he can come in without interrupting them that much.

He pushed the door open, earning the attention of Daryl and Randall, "Hey, Daryl."

Daryl turned away from Randall and looked at the juvie, "What are you doing here, kid?"

"Do you need a break?" Duncan asked him, "I can stay here and watch him over for a few minutes."

"Are you sure?" Daryl asked.

"For how long have you been here?" Duncan asked, when the younger Dixon stayed silent, he added, "That's what I am talking about. Go out and take a few minute walk, or something like that. I'll make sure that he won't escape."

Daryl remained silent for a few seconds and eyed the juvie, before exiting the shed, leaving the juvie alone with Randall. Duncan followed him to the exit and waited until the Daryl will be in the safe distance. After making sure of that, he closed the doors and walked over to Randall, intending to have the conversation with him that he wanted to have since Chef told him one thing about Randall's group.

When he knelt down in front of Randall, he asked him, "I have a few questions."

"About what?" Randall asked him, "I already told your friend..."

Duncan didn't let Randall finish his sentence. He pulled out his Smith & Wesson 3914 which once belonged to Timothy and showed it off to him, asking the prisoner, "Looks familiar?"

"This pistol. It was Timothy's..." Shock grew on Randall's facial features once realization appeared in his mind, "...You killed him."

"I wasn't the one who killed him." Duncan explained. He wasn't lying. Chef was the one who killed Timothy, "What happened to him was his own fault."

"What?" Randall asked, growing more fearful by that.

"He tried to take me to that leader of yours, Harlan, isn't it?" Duncan asked, to which Randall just gave him a short and fearful nod in confirmation, "And when I refused he threatened to kill me."

"I see." Randall breathed a nervous sigh, "He didn't leave guys a choice..."

"Where did he got this pistol from?" Duncan asked, going straight to the topic, knowing that he had limited time. Daryl could be back any second, "He told me that he got it from a guy that ended his life, but I don't really believe in it. Did you know how he really got it?"

"I wasn't there when it happened, but I was told by Nate, how Timothy got it." Randall began.

"Then, tell me." Duncan demanded, "I'm on limited time here."

"It was about a week after he joined the group. He was with Sean, Dave and Tony and they split up from the rest to go a supply run in some abandoned trailer park that wasn't as abandoned as it seemed at first." Randall continued as Duncan listened carefully, "There were two people there. One of them was the owner of this pistol. I think you should now know what happened to him and his friend."

Duncan nodded his head. Randall didn't say to say more about to make him understand what Timothy, Sean, Dave and Tony did to the first owner of this pistol and his friend. He pulled the pistol aside and pulled out one more thing that he wanted to know about Timothy. It was a picture of two young girls with one more person that was ripped out that Timothy carried with him.

He showed it off to Randall, making sure that the young man took a good look at it, "What about girls from this picture? Who were they? What happened to them?"

Randall shook his head, "You don't want to know that."

"I want to." Duncan said, "Otherwise I wouldn't come here."

Randall sighed, knowing that the teen interogatting him at this moment wasn't going to like it, "One night we found this little campsite. A man and his two daughters-teenagers, you know? Real young. Real cute. Their daddy had to watch while these guys and Timothy was one of these guys..."

"What about their father?" Duncan asked, feeling anger raise in his voice, "What happened to him afterwards?"

"They didn't even kill him. They just left him there." Randall explained, shaking his head, "Before they left, Timothy took this picture from their father and ripped him out and threw it over their bodies. He said to their father that him being in that picture will ruin the view for him."

This was all Duncan needed to hear. His eye twitched. The Timothy that he knew from the juvenille hall wasn't a saint but to be the honest neither was he, but Timothy was never the type of person that would kill someone just to get their stuff, or even worse, rape someone in front of their parents.

He stood up when he heard someone, most likely Daryl coming back to the shed. He moved towards the exit and stopped right in front of him when he heard Randall say something to him.

"I'm not like them." Randall told him, attempting to convice him let him go, "I was with them only because I wanted to survive..."

Duncan didn't reply to his pleads. He only turned to give him one last short look before exiting the shed, exchanging a quick look with Daryl who entered it shorty after. The juvie didn't move that away from the shed. He leaned against the wall and looked at the sky.

He shook his head. He took out his lighter and used it to set the picture on fire. He watched how the flames started to eat and picture and whispered, "What the hell happened to you, Tim?"

* * *

Everyone from the group was gathered around a bonfire while Daryl was approaching them from the distance, intending to tell them everything that Randall told him about his group.

"So what you gonna do?" Lori asked, pouring herself a cup of hot water, "We'd all feel better if we knew the plan."

"Do have a plan?" Cody asked shorty after.

"We gonna keep him here?" Glenn was the next one to ask something.

"We'll know soon enough." Rick said as he pointed at approaching Daryl.

Everyone turned to look at the redneck who stopped in front of them, beginning to explain, "There's got a gang, 30 men. They have heavy artillery and they ain't looking to make friends. They roll through here,our boys are dead. And our women, they're gonna wish they were."

"What did you do?" Carol asked, spotting blood on Daryl's wrists.

"Had a little chat." Daryl explained, plain and true.

"No one goes near this guy." Rick declared.

"Someone should keep an eye on him." Shane stated.

Chef stepped forward, "I'll go."

"There's no need to." Daryl stopped him, "I left Duncan with him."

"Rick, what are you gonna do?" Lori asked her husband.

Rick sighed, "We have no choice. He's a threat. We have to eliminate the threat."

"You're just gonna kill him?" Dale asked in disbelief, not believing his ears.

"It's settled." Rick told him, starting to walk away from the group, "I'll do it today."

Dale's watched how Rick walked off, before pushing himself into a small sprint to catch up to him, "You can't do this. You don't wanna do this. I know you don't."

"I thought about it all night. Knowing what we know now, I don't see a way out of it." Rick explained.

"But you can't just decide on your own to take someone's life." Dale stated.

"The group seemed supportive." Rick pointed out.

"What, because they didn't speak back?" Dale asked him, making Rick stop, "You didn't let 'em. There's gotta be a process."

"And what would that be?" Rick wanted to know, "We can't call witnesses, go before a judge."

"So he's automatically guilty by association and sentenced to death?" Dale asked him, "He's just a kid! Gimme some time to talk to everyone."

"We can't drag this out." Rick stated, "People are scared."

"Which is why they need time to discuss this." Dale argued.

"No no no, they need to be safe." Rick argued back, "I owe 'em that."

"You think about your son, the message that you're giving him, shoot first, think later." Dale told him, raising his voice, "I'm asking for one day to talk to everybody. You can give me that. Think about Carl."

"I am." Rick nodded his head, "We reconvene at sunset, then what happens happens."

* * *

Dale knew that he had only a few hours to talk with everyone with the group about Randall and instantly made his way into the RV to talk with the first person about it. He saw Andrea there, searching through the RV.

She saw his enter the RV and quickly asked, "Did you move the gun bag?"

"Yeah." Dale nodded his head in confirmation, picking up the gun bag from the spot he placed it in. He placed it on the table as Andrea took her seat, in front of it, starting to search through it, "I need you to guard Randall, protect him."

Andrea raised her brow, "Why?"

"Rick's giving me time to talk to the others, try and talk some sense into them." Dale began, "But if Shane finds out..."

Andrea cut him off, "You think he'd just shoot the guy himself?"

"You know killing the boy had to be his idea." Dale stated, "Are you with him on this?"

"He's a threat." Andrea pointed out and shook her head after taking a good look at the bag, "Tell me this isn't all the ammo."

"You're a civil rights lawyer." Dale told her.

"Was." Andrea corrected him, as she pulled her pistol out from the bag before placing it on the table.

"You fight with words, the power of ideas." Dale said, "Using a gun, that's his way."

"You really want to debate about saving a guy who will lead his buddies right to our door?" Andrea asked him.

"That's what a civilized society does." Dale answered.

Andrea titled her head, "Who says we're civilized anymore?"

"No, the world we knew is gone, but keeping our humanity." Dale began, pushing Andrea's pistol towards her, "That's a choice."

"I was already going to watch the prisoner with Tyler." Andrea explained after a moment of silence. She picked her pistol from the table and started heading towards the exit from the RV, "He should be waiting for me by the shed."

* * *

Andrea made her way to the shed where Tyler was already waiting for her along with Dale who tried to convice the red clothed teenager to not kill Randall and give him a chance to prove himself, but this talk didn't went exactly as Dale wanted it to go. The eldery man walked away from the duo, after his failed attempt to convice Tyler, telling the jock and Andrea that they should think about it.

They watched him leave and stood with each other, eventually trading a word with themselves, as Randall was pleading them to give him some water, but they didn't respond to any of his calls.

They were approached by Shane who sighed and chuckled at their view, "Dale,huh? What, he put you on death watch? Let me ask you something-say I wanted to go in there right now and I just wanted to take care of this, you gonna stop me? Hmm?"

"We had a good teacher." Andrea answered.

"Yeah." Shane rubbed his head, "So what, you guys buy into Dale's sob story?"

Tyler shook his head, "No. I told him that I'm on your side."

"Same here." Andrea nodded in agreement.

"You see what's happening, don't you?" Shane asked them, "These guys ain't gonna go through with this. I'm telling you, they gonna pussy out. And if they do,we gonna have a big problem on our hands. Let me ask you something-every time we have a problem around here, who do you think's behind it?"

"I'd say that most of our group would say that you're the one behind them." Tyler stated.

Shane chuckled at his response, "Nah, kid. No one listens to me. I say it's the guys that make up the rules, the boys that always have all the answers,even though their answers always prove wrong."

"Then what should we do?" Tyler asked, "We don't have much to say about this. Rick's the leader of this group, and it's Hershel's farm."

"Maybe we oughta change that." Shane stated.

"What,are you gonna lock 'em in a room and take their guns?" Andred asked, jokingly, but when she and Tyler saw Shane's expression, they could see that it was exactly what he was considering. She shook her head, "I don't know."

"This could easily get out of hand." Tyler stated to which Andrea nodded in agreement.

"It won't. Okay? I won't let it." Shane assured them, "Listen, I don't want anybody to get hurt, okay? Rick's my friend, Hershel-he's all right by me."

"And Dale?" Andrea asked him.

"Dale got a big mouth, but he's harmless." Shane laughed, " Look, I just-I wanna know what it's like to sleep without keeping one eye open. Ain't that-ain't that what we all want?"

It was when Tyler heard some noise coming from the shed, following the sound of Randall talking to someone? He raised his index finger in the air, shushing Shane and Andrea and asked, "You guys are hearing that too?"

Andrea and Shane stopped what they were doing and listened carefully to their surroundings, hearing Randall say something to someone inside of the shed, "You help me, I'll take you and your folks back to my people. We'll take good care of you. Keep you safe. Just gotta-just gotta help me get out of here, okay?"

Shane's and Andrea's eyes snapped open. Someone indeed was in the shed along with Randall. The latter pulled out her pistol while Tyler quickly readied his baseball bat. Shane quickly opened the entrance to the shed and his eyes widened when he saw Carl inside.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" Shane asked him, pushing Carl away from Randall, before glaring at the prisoner. He pulled his pistol out and shoved Randall against the wall, pointing his pistol right at the young man's forehead, "What did you say to him? What did you say to him, huh?

"I-I didn't say nothing." Randall nervously stuttered out.

Shane wasn't buying it, "You like talking, man? You like talking?!"

"Shane, not now/ We'll deal with him later." Andrea and Tyler said at the same time as Shane turned back to look at them and Carl. He sighed and removed the barrel of his pistol from Randall's forehead.

He holstered his pistol and focused his attention on Carl. He grabbed him by his shoulder and shoved him out of the shed, "Get your ass out this door."

"Please don't tell my parents." Carl nervously said as Tyler and Andrea came out from the shed right after them.

"Carl, that ain't cool, man." Shane scolded, "You could've gotten hurt in there."

"I can handle myself." Carl said in response.

Shane placed his hand on Carl's shoulder and pointed his index finger in his other hand at the kid, staring straight into his eyes, "Let me tell you something, you do not go near him again. Do you hear me?"

"You won't tell my parents, will you?" Carl repeated his question, still nervous.

"Carl man, this isn't about getting in trouble, okay?" Shane began, "A guy like that,he will say anything to you. He'll try to make you feel sorry for him. He'll try to make you let your guard down. You let your guard down out here,people die. Now just do me a favor,man, now go find your ma and quit trying to get yourself killed, man."

* * *

Duncan was leaning against the tree nearby the farm and just stared ahead, thinking about Timothy and the information that he found out about him from Randall when he heard someone approach him.

"Duncan." A familiar voice spoke up to him. He turned around to the source of the voice and saw Courtney approaching him with Daryl walking closely behind her.

"What do you guys want?" The juvie asked them.

Courtney sat down next to him, "Daryl came to the camp and told me that there wasn't something wrong about you since you stayed with Randall, and he heard you whisper something to yourself about someone named Tim."

"Of course. I should have realized that Daryl may have heard that." Duncan sighed, "I guess there's no point of keeping this as a secret anymore."

"What secret?" Daryl wanted to know, standing in front of him.

Daryl pulled out his pistol and made sure to give Courtney and Daryl a good look at it, "I and Chef didn't told you the truth about how I got this pistol. I wasn't attacked by a walker, and I didn't cut my own cheek while fighting it. Someone else did."

"What are you talking about?" Courtney asked him. Daryl looked like he was about to ask this question too.

"Princess, do you remember when I mentioned my buddies from the juvie to you?" Duncan asked her in return.

"I do. Their name were Chad, Freddie and Timo..." Courtney's eyes widened. Daryl told her about Duncan mentioning someone named Tim to himself. Did that mean, "Is this something related to Timothy?"

"Yes." Duncan nodded his head, "This pistol was his. He tried to kill me."

"What?" Courtney asked, as Daryl just listened, not saying a thing, "Why would he do that?"

"I didn't want to go with him." Duncan answered, "He wanted to take me to his group, but I refused. We had a talk before that, and some of the things he said to me just felt off. I was certain that it wasn't going to end well for me and I was right to not trust him."

"Why?" Courtney raised her brow.

Duncan sighed, bracing himself for their reactions, "He was from Randall's group."

Courtney's eyes snapped open, "What? Are you sure?"

"Yes." Duncan nodded his head in confirmation, "When Chef, Chris, DJ, Rick, Glenn and Hershel came across these two guys in the town, Dave and Tony, they asked them if the saw someone named Timothy, and the description they gave him matched him perfectly."

"You couldn't tell us sooner?" Daryl asked, a hint of anger in his voice, "You couldn't tell us that there may be a group of people like that around?"

"I and Chef were planning to tell you." Duncan began, but was interrupted.

"Chef?" Courtney asked, wanting to be sure, "He was there when it happened?"

"He was the one who killed Timothy. He saved my ass." Duncan explained, "As I was saying, we were going to tell you, but we just didn't, because of everything that recently happened, the barn, Sophia's death, Lori's pregnancy, the gunfight in that town. I think you get my point, at least I hope you do."

"I still think that you should tell us about that." Daryl said, "But what happened, already happened, and there is nothing that can be done about it."

Duncan looked up at Daryl, "I told you to go on a break from interogatting him, because I wanted to ask Randall some questions about Timothy. He told me the story about these two girls and how Timothy was one of the guys that, you know. He even kept the picture of them afterwards."

Daryl instantly knew to what Duncan was referring to. He sighed and nodded his head.

"I've been thinking to myself." Duncan continued, "What the hell happened to you, Tm? The Timothy I knew from before this entire thing happened wasn't a thing, but to be honest, neither was I. He was never any of those things that Randall told me about."

"Duncan." Courtney began as she placed her hand on Duncan's shoulder to comfort him, causing the juvie to look at her, "You can't beat yourself over the things that Timothy did or the person that he became over these past few months. There was nothing you could do about it."

Duncan nodded his head, "I know that, princess."

It was when a familiar voice rang through their ears, "There you are."

They turned to the source of the voice and saw Dale approaching them. Courtney asked him, "What is it, Dale?"

"I need to talk with all of you." Dale explained, stopping in front of them.

"Carol send you?" Daryl asked.

The younger Dixon didn't had to wait long for the reply, "Carol's not the only one that's concerned about you, your new role in the group."

"It this about Randall, Dale?" Courtney wanted to know, even though the answer was quite obvious for her.

"It is." Dale confirmed it with a nod of his head, "I want you to stand with me, try to save the kid's life."

"No." Duncan shook his head, "I'm with Rick on this one."

"Why?" Dale asked, "Do you really want to sentence someone to death only because he is related to a group that attacked us?"

"Dale." The juvie began, "We all heard from Daryl about the things that Randall's group did and would most likely do to us if they found out about this place. What if Randall will use the fact that we decided to trust him and spare his life and will led his group right to us?"

Dale stared at Duncan for a second, before shifting his attention to Courtney, hoping that the CIT will at least be on his side, "Courtney."

"I'm sorry, Dale." The CIT sighed, "But we can't risk it."

The eldery man turned to look at the last person, "Daryl..."

Daryl shook his head, "Didn't peg you for a desperate son of a bitch."

"Guys." Dale told them, "Your opinion makes a difference."

Daryl scoffed, "Man, ain't nobody looking at me for nothing."

"Carol is, so are Duncan and Courtney, and I am. right now." Dale said to him, "And you obviously have Rick's ears."

"Rick just looks to Shane." Daryl stated, "Let him."

"You cared about what happened to Sophia, cared what it meant to the group. Torturing people? That isn't you. You're a decent man. All three of you. You are all decent people." Dale told them, "So is Rick, but Shane, he's different."

Daryl exchanged a look with Duncan before asking, "What's that? 'Cause he killed Otis?"

Dale's eyes snapped open in shock. He came closer to them, "He tell you that?"

"Dale, it was quite obvious." Duncan stated, "He told us that Otis stayed behind to keep the walkers away from him, and yet, he came back with his weapon."

"Rick ain't stupid. If he didn't figure that out, it's 'cause he didn't wanna." Daryl added, "It's like I said, this group's broken."

* * *

After failing to convice Daryl, Duncan and Courtney to support him in the situation with Randall, Dale made way through the farm to have a talk about it with the owner of this place. It took him several minutes to find him. He saw the farmer working along with DJ near some small lake.

He approached them and asked, "What happened?"

"A dozen steer busted through the fence." Hershel explained, "We've been wrangling the runways all morning. Good thing I had DJ here to help."

DJ shrugged his shoulders, offering Hershel a smile, "You needed help and I did what I could."

Hershel returned DJ's smile before turning his attention back to Dale, stating, "But you're not here to talk cattle."

"The boy." Dale stated.

"The _prisoner_." Hershel corrected.

"Randall..." Dale continued, but was interrupted.

"I don't want to know." Hershel cut him off, "I'm told they're deciding his fate. I'll leave it with Rick."

Dale shook his head, gesturing towards the area around them, "But this is your home."

"I want him away from my girls." Hershel explained, "I don't care how."

"It's an execution." Dale pointed out, "You can't stand by the sidelines. You're a man with convictions."

"To tell you the truth, I was." Hershel stated, "Or at least I thought I was. But I've made too many mistakes."

"Would you at least talk with Randall before making up your mind?" Dale asked, seeing that even Hershel wasn't on his side.

"No." Hershel shook his head, "I'll leave it with Rick."

"DJ." Dale said, earning the said teenager attention. DJ was always one of the people that tried to avoid violence, "What about you? Randall is only a few years older than you. You know that klling him is wrong, right?"

"I don't know what to think about this, Dale." DJ sighed, "On ther first side, I don't think that killing Randall may be the right way, but on the other side, you weren't there in the town when they attacked us. I think I'll leave it to Rick to handle. I'm sure that he'll make the right decision."

* * *

Shane was busy putting some things in the car's trunk when he saw someone approaching out of the corner of his eye. He sighed, knowing about what this person was going to talk with him about and closed the trunk.

He leaned against it as Dale made his way to him, "What's up, Dale?"

Dale sighed, already knowing that it was pointless, but he had to try. He was running out of options, "I wanna change your mind."

Shane laughed, "What, you serious?"

"I know you and I will never see eye to eye on much..." Dale began.

"That's the understatement of the year, huh?" Shane stated.

Dale continued as if Shane didn't say anything, "You're not going anywhere..."

Shane shook his head, "Nope."

Dale came closer to Shane, "And I'm not going anywhere."

"Okay." Shane nodded his head.

"So, let's talk about this like men." Dale told Shane, stopping inches away from him.

"You deny we're in danger, Dale?" Shane asked.

"No." Dale shook his head, "But there's so many of us, one of him."

"There's 30 of them." Shane pointed out.

"Killing him doesn't change that." Dale pointed out in return.

Shane shook his head, "No."

"But it changes _us_." Dale stated.

Shane snorted, "You got balls, Dale. I'm gonna give you that. Now, I'll tell you what, in a little bit when y'all gather, you're gonna talk about this. If you've convinced them to keep this guy alive, I ain't gonna say a damn word about it, okay? But I'm telling you now, man to man, you're wrong. And when this guy kills somebody I ain't gonna need to say anything, because that blood is gonna be on you. You're wrong about this, Dale. You're damn wrong."

* * *

Glenn walked into the farmhouse and made his way through it to check how Beth was doing and heard that Hershel was in the room with her. He slowly walked into the room, making both of the Greene's stop their conversationa and look at him.

"How is she?" He asked Hershel.

"She seems to be in good spirits today." Hershel answered as he stood up before giving his daughter a quick kiss on her forehead. "Aren't you, doodlebug?"

"Well." Glenn said, as Hershel started to make his way towards the exit. The asian man turned to leave too, "Let me know if I can do anything."

Once they walked out from the room, Hershel asked, "Where's you family from?"

"Michigan." Glenn replied, "But before that, Korea."

Hershel nodded his head in response, "Immigrants built this country. Never forget that. Our family came from Ireland."

Glenn chuckled, "Maggie Greene-I kinda figured."

Hershel smiled at him, pulling out a small pocket watch from his pocket, before starting to come closer to Glenn, "My grandfather brought this over from the old country. He passed it on to my father,who passed it on to me. I pawned it to pay for a night of drinking I no longer remember."

They both shared a quick chuckle before Glenn asked him, "You bought it back."

"My late wife did. Josephine, Maggie's mother. She gave it back years later when I sobered up." Hershel began, "She was a good woman, my Jo. Maggie's a lot like her. When we were in that bar and afterwards, I thought about a lot of things. You become a father someday, you'll understand. No man is good enough for your little girl until one is."

He held the watch out to Glenn who just stared at him, unsure if he should take it or not, "Go on now, before I change my mind about you."

Glenn eyed the watch and smiled at Hershel, "Thanks."

* * *

The sun had finally set which meant only one thing. The time to discuss Randall's fate has come. The entire group started to gather in the farm house. Carl wanted to be a part o this meeting too. He ran over to his mother who was walking up the stairs towards the opened entrance to the house.

"Come on, Carl." His mother said to him, "I want you to stay with Jimmy."

Carl looked up at her, following her into the house, "But-but I wanna listen."

"Not this time." Lori shook her head, entering the house, "Come on."

The entire living room was filled with people that it almost ran out of the free space as everyone waited for the discussion to start. The group was about to start, but stopped when they saw someone standing in the entrance to the room. It was Carl. Everyone stared at him, and although he was a bit hesitatant, he walked away to another room.

"So." Gwen began, breaking the silence between the group, "How do we do this?"

"Are we going to take a vote, or something like that?" Cody asked right after her.

"Does it have to be unanimous?" Andrea asked.

"How about majority rules?" Harold was the one to ask something.

"Let's just see where everybody stands then we can talk through the options." Rick explained.

"Well, where I sit." Shane began, "There's only one way to move forward."

"Killing him, right?" Dale spoke up, "I mean why bother to even take a vote? It's clear which way the wind's blowing."

Rick turned to look at him, "Well, if people believe we should spare him, I wanna know."

"I can tell you it's a small group." Dale told him, "Maybe just me and Glenn and Bridgette."

Glenn looked up at Dale. He saw how the eldery's man looked at him in disbelief, "Look, I-I think you're pretty much right about everything,all the time, but this..."

"They've got you scared." Dale stated.

"He's not one of us." Glenn said to clarify his decision, "And we've lost too many people already."

Dale turned away from Glenn to look at Bridgette and from the look on her face, he could say that the surfer wasn't sure about if letting Randall live was a good idea.

"I'm sorry, Dale." She said to him, "I'm not really sure what to think about it. I'll make my decision later."

Dale pointed at Owen and Izzy, "How about you, guys? Do you agree with this?"

"Can't we just keeping locked up?" Owen asked to which Izzy nodded in agreement.

"Just another mouth to feed." Daryl stated.

"There's already too many of us here." Duncan added.

"It may be a lean winter." Hershel declared.

"Eh, we could always ration better, right?" Ezekiel suggested.

"Well, he could be an asset." Dale said, "Give him a chance to prove himself."

"You want us to put him to work?" Chris asked the first thing that came into his mind after Dale's words.

Rick shook his head, "We're not letting him walk around."

"We could put an escort on him." Maggie said.

Alejandro raised his brow, "Who wants to volunteer for that duty?"

"I will." Dale instantly volunteered.

Chef shook his head, "I don't think any of us should be walking around with this guy."

"He's right." Lori agreed with the co-host of Total Drama, "I wouldn't feel safe unless he was tied up."

"We can't exactly put chains around his ankles, sentence him to hard labor." Noah stated.

"Look." Shane said, earning everyone's attention, "Say we let him join us,right? Maybe he's helpful, maybe he's nice. We let our guard down and maybe he runs off, brings back his 30 men."

"So the answer is to kill him to prevent a crime that he may never even attempt?" Dale asked him, "If we do this,we're saying there's no hope. Rule of law is dead. There is no civilization."

Shane shook his head and placed his hand on his forehead, "Oh my god."

"Leaving him with us is too risky, Dale." Tyler said, "We can't risk it. What if he will somehow find a way how to led his group to us without us noticing?"

"Could you drive him further out?" DJ suggested, "Leave him like you planned?"

Harold shook his head at DJ's suggestion, "We barely came back last time."

"And there's too many bad scenarios for this idea." Duncan added.

"What if they'll get ambushed by the people from his group?" Courtney said one of the bad scenarios, and this one was certainly the worst.

"They're right." Glenn stated, "We should not put our own people at risk."

"If we'll decide to do it, then how will you deal with him?" Cody asked. Killing someone already felt like too much for him, but the group raised some valid points. He felt conflicted about this whole thing, but they couldn't risk it, right? They couldn't risk that the people who did all of the things that Daryl told them about would come here and do all of these things to them, "Would he suffer?

"We could hang up, right?" Shane suggested, "Just snap his neck."

Chef shook his head, "Shooting will be more humane."

"And what about the body?" T-Dog wanted to know.

"Should we bury him or burn him?" Alejandro asked shorty ater.

"Hold on, hold on." Dale shushed everyone, "You're talking about this like it's already decided."

"You've been talking all day, going around in circles." Heather pointed out, "You just wanna go around in circles again?"

"This is a young man's life and it is worth more that a five-minute conversation! Is this what it's come to?" Dale declared, "We kill someone because we can't decide what else to do with him? You saved him and now look at us. He's been tortured. He's gonna be executed. How are we any better than those people that we're so afraid of?"

"Hold on, Dale." Duncan said, "Aren't you going a bit far with us being no better than his people? We don't kill people because we want to take their supplies."

"No, Dale is right." Rick stated, "We can't leave any stone unturned here. We have a responsibility."

"So what's the other solution?" Andrea cut him off, "We haven't come up with a single viable option yet. I wish we could."

"So let's work on it!" Dale exclaimed.

"Stop it." Carol spoke up, making everyone turn to look at her, "I'm sick of everybody arguing and fighting. I didn't ask for this. You can't ask us to decide something like this. Please decide-either of you, both of you-but leave me out."

Dale looked at her and shook his head, "Not speaking out or killing him yourself. There's no difference."

"That's enough." Rick said, "Anybody that wants the floor before we make a final decision has the chance."

Seeing that everyone stayed silent, Dale pointed at Rick , recalling a certain words the the sheriff deputy said back in Atlanta, "You once said that we don't kill the living."

"Well." Rick said, turning to look at him, "That was before the living tried to kill us."

"What about you, Chris?" Dale asked the host of Total Drama, causing Chris to look at him, "When you had to kill one of these men in the city, you became a shadow of a person for a few days! You want to go through this again?"

Chris shook his head, starting to explain, "I killed that man to protect Glenn, Dale. I couldn't even look at my pistol for the rest of that night, but I know that I did what had to be done to protect our group."

'But don't you see? If we do this, the people that we were, the world that we knew is dead. And this new world is ugly. It's. harsh. It's it's survival of the fittest. And that's a world I don't wanna live in and I don't believe that any of you do. I can't. Please. Let's just do what's right." Dale argued. He looked around the room, "Isn't there anybody else who's gonna stand with me?"

"He's right." Andrea said, after a moment of complete silence, "We should try to find another way."

Bridgette sighed, finally making her voice too, "I agree with Dale too. Killing a person just to prevent something that we're not sure will happen just feels wrong to me."

Rick looked around the room, "Anybody else?"

Everyone remained silent. There were a few people that considered siding with Dale, but at the end, decided to side with the rest of the group. DJ was one of them, but he ultimately decided to stay silent. He didn't want to risk the scenarion in which Randall will lead his group, the one that almost killed him during that night, the one that would have kill him without a second thought to this farm, and will kill, or even do worse things to the people from this group.

"Are y'all gonna watch too?" Dale shook his head, "No, you'll go hide your heads in your tents and try to forget that we're slaughtering a human being. I won't be a party to it."

He walked over to Daryl, Duncan and Courtney who stood together in the back of the room, and placed the hand on the younger Dixon's shoulder, "This group is broken."

* * *

The sun had disappeared from the horizon and Randall could only stare at the darkened sky of the night as Rick, Shane, Chef, Chris and Daryl were leading him towards the barn. Daryl and Chef held him by his shoulders, to make sure he wasn't going to try to escape as Shane, Rick and Chris walked in front of them.

"Hold on." He said to them, but they didn't respond. They just kept taking him to the barn, "Hold on."

Rick opened the entrance to the barn and walked in, followed by everyone else. He pointed at one spot in the barn and said, "Put him there."

Daryl and Chef nodded as they lead Randall to the spot that was in the middle of the barn, before handing him over to Shane who started to put a blindfold over the young's man eyes.

"It's all gonna be over soon." Shane assured him.

"What?" Randall asked in confusion as Shane finished putting blindfold over his eyes, "What's gonna be over soon?"

"Relax." Shane told him.

Rick pulled out his Python and readied it. It was when a realization of what was going to happen to him appeared in Randall's mind. He broke in tears, as everyone stepped away from him.

"Would you like to stand or kneel?" Rick asked him, standing in front of Randall.

"Oh no,please." Randall pleaded, "Please..."

Chef came over to Randall and brought the young man to his knees. Randall continued to sob as Rick asked him, "Do you have any final words?"

"No. Please." Randall pleaded, tears spilling down his cheeks, "Please, don't. Don't."

Rick aimed his Python at Randall's forehead. The young man continued to cry and beg to spare his life as Rick only sighed to that. He was about to pull the trigger when he heard a familiar and very young voice say something to him.

"Do it, dad." He lowered his Python, as everyone, including himself turned to the source of the voice and saw Carl standing in the entrance to the barn. They didn't even notice when he entered it, "Do it."

Chef's eyes widened in shock, "What are you doing here, kid?"

Rick stared at Carl in shock as his son just encouraged him to do it. He looked around himself to see everyone staring at Carl as shocked as he was. He turned to look at Shane and Chris and made a quick motion with his head, telling them to take Carl out of here without saying a word.

"Are you kidding me?" Shane asked as he instantly started to walk towards Carl, grabbing the young boy by his shoulders, as Chris was quick to follow him, "What did I say to you?"

Rick aimed his Python at Randall's head for another time and let out a deep sigh. He didn't fire his pistol. He couldn't do it. Not with what happened just a few seconds ago. Not with that his son just told him a few seconds ago.

He lowered his Python and turned to look at Daryl and Chef, "Take him away."

Randall sighed in relief as he could feel this feeling overcoming his body. Daryl and Chef walked over to the young man and lifted him up from his knees by his shoulders. They started to take him towards the exit from the barn as Rick turned to look at Carl, Shane and Chris. He could see Shane shake his head and slam the doors to the barn in anger, before stepping out of it. Chef and Daryl left the barn to place Randall back in the shed shorty after.

Rick stared at his son for a few seconds, before walking out of the barn with him and Chris shorty after. It didn't took them that long to make their way back to the camp. Everyone instantly looked at them the moment they stepped into the camp.

"Randall's still alive." Chris declared.

"We're keeping him in custody." Rick added, "For now."

Andrea smiled and stood up from the log he was sitting on, "I'm gonna find Dale."

Lori noticed the look on her husband's face and knew that something must have happen in the barn. She looked down at her son, "Carl, go inside, please."

Carl gave a short nod of his head, knowing that he was in trouble. He walked away from his dad's side into the tent, leaving his parents to have a tlak in four eyes.

"He followed us." Rick whispered to his wife, shaking his head,, "He wanted to watch. I couldn't."

"That's okay." Lori assured her husband, pulling him into a hug, "That's okay."

They released each other from the hug when someone's screams rang through their ears. They weren't the only one who heard that. Everyone in the camp quickly stopped what they were doing and gathered around themselves.

"Did you heard that?" Leshawna asked.

"Was that Dale?" Sierra asked shorty after.

"Get Carl." Rick told his wife who nodded her head right after they released each other from the hug. She quickly went into the tent to get their son as Rick pulled out his Python, pushing himself into run, "T-Dog, Izzy, Harold, Alejandro, get a shotgun now!"

He didn't had to tell them twice. They did exactly as Rick told them to do. They quickly started making their way to the RV to get shotgun from the gun bag for each one of them as Rick was now running in the direction of the scream. Everyone followed him. The panicked screams took them straight to gate which was leading to the fields of Hershel's farm. Rick quickly opened it with a firm kick and ran into the fields along with the group. Everyone split up into groups and started to run aross the fields.

"Dale!" Andrea cried out in worry.

"Where are you!?' Bridgette shouted, sounding as worried as Andrea.

Everyone proceeded to run through the field, trying to spot Dale as he let out one long agonizing scream of pain. Chef and Daryl who ran together heard it and realized that Dale must have been close to them. They finally saw him in the distance, trying to fight off a walker which was on top of him. They ran even faster than before and Chef who was the first one to reach Dale took the walker off Dale and threw it aside.

His eyes widened and he gasped when he saw the state that Dale was in. The walker had torn a huge hole in his stomach, and his insides visible were left pretty visible for the co-host of Total Drama. Chef quickly went over to Dale's side and knelt in front of him, as the old man only stared at him, letting out painful breaths and grunts.

Daryl quickly stabbed the walker that attacked Dale in the head with his knife, getting rid of it. He waved his hands around, screaming, "Hey! We're here! Over here!"

"Look at me, soldier." Chef said to Dale who stared at him, and didn't said anything. Daryl quickly went over to them, as Chef continued, "You're gonna be alright. You hear me?"

Shane and Rick were the first ones that made their way to Chef, Daryl and wounded Dale, the hole in the old man's stomach being the first thing that they spotted on their arrival. Shane rubbed his head as Rick quickly went over to Dale's side and knelt down in front of him.

"Listen to my voice. All right?" The sheriff deputy said, grasping Dale's beard as the group started to gather around them. He turned back and called out, "Hershel! We need Hershel!"

"Everything is going to be alright, soldier." Chef kept assuring Dale, "We're here. We're gonna help you."

Andrea dropped her flashlight and gasped. She fell on her knees and placed her hand on his shoulder, feeling how tears started to appear in her eyes, "Hang on, Dale. Hang on."

"Dale, we're gonna help. We're here. Just hold on." Rick told Dale.

Hershel ran over to them, "What happened?"

"What can we do?" Rick asked as Hershel knelt down in front of Dale and took a good look at the state he was in, "Can we move him?"

Hershel turned away from Dale to look at Rick and shook his head, "He won't make the trip."

"You have to do the operation here." Rick stated, "Glenn, Noah, Izzy, get back to the house."

Hershel placed his hand on Rick's shoulder, "Rick..."

Rick shook his head, "No!"

Andrea was now fully crying, "Oh, god..."

Glenn and Noah exchanged a look with each other, the asian man was seconds away from bursting into tears as Noah simply placed a hand on his shoulder to comfort him, looking as saddened as Glenn was. DJ was crying too and so was Bridgette, the former placing his hands over his eyes. Tyler gripped his baseball bat tightly and glared at the lifeless body of a walker ahead of them, before starting to make his way towards it. Everyone else just stared at Dale, not saying anything, and not doing anything, before there was nothing they could do to save his life.

Carl who just made his way to the group, eyed the walker carefully and his eyes widened. He could feel tears coming into his eyes as he embraced his mom tightly.

"Guys, he's suffering." Gwen stated, as Dale kept groaning in pain.

"Do something." Andrea sobbed.

Rick sighed and he pulled his Python out from it's holster. His hand was shaking when he aimed it right at Dale's head, intending to end his suffering, but he couldn't pull the trigger. He couldn't bring himself to do it.

Daryl came over to Rick's side and took the Python from him. He aimed it at Dale's head, who made a motion that looked like nodding, as if he was giving him permission, "I'm sorry, brother."

The younger Dixon pulled the trigger and the Python fired. One bullet was enough to end Dale's suffering as his lifeless eyes stared up at everyone. The group stared at his lifeless body, not saying anything. The only sound that came from them was the sound of a few of them crying.

They didn't even paid attention to Tyler who was smashing the walker that caused Dale's death to pieces. He didn't stop just on it's head. He moved towards other parts of it's body and it was just matter of time before there was nothing but a bloody mush left of it.


	18. Better Angels

The morning after Dale's death was hard for everyone. Many people still couldn't believe that Dale, one of the kindest people you could come across in this world would just die like that. Shane declared that he'll go on a small investigation to find out how the walker found itself on the farm and he didn't had to wait long for the volunteers.

Tyler and Andrea immediately volunteered. So did T-Dog and Alejandro. They all got themselves into Otis' blue truck and drove off. Shane sat in the driver seat and Andrea and Tyler sat next to him in the passenger seat. Alejandro and T-Dog sat together in the trunk of the truck and simply observed how they were passing by the fields of Hershels' farm.

The traces left by the walker that become nothing but a bloody mush after Tyler unleashed his rage upon it for causing the death of another people in the group lead them to a certain place in the forest, but their investigation wasn't over. They found more traces of the undead leading towards the farm. They couldn't let more people share Dale's fate and instantly followed the traces.

They found what they were looking for when they saw a few walkers in front of them, feasting on one of Hershel's cows. Shane, Tyler, Andrea, Alejandro and T-Dog knew what do be done next. Tyler readied his baseball bat, Shane took out a shovel from the trunk of the truck, Alejandro pulled out his tomahawk and Andrea picked up a pitchfork and hammer from the trunk of the truck and handed the hammer to T-Dog.

The group of five people moved towards the walker. Most of the undead noticed them and started approaching them pretty quickly, completely forgetting about their meal. Alejandro swung his tomahawk at the first approaching walker, getting rid of it as T-Dog got rid of another one by slamming his hammer right in the back of it's head. Andrea got rid of another one with her pitchfork. The pointy ends of her pitchfork went right through it's bottom jaw right to it's brain.

Tyler gripped his baseball bat tightly before slamming his weapon right against the head of approaching walker. The undead was threw backwards a bit, not caring about the fact that it was hit right in it's head with a metal baseball and continued to make it's way towards the jock who ended it's life with another swing of his baseball bat.

Alejandro stabbed the walker that just noticed them right in it's head with his tomahawk, leaving only one walker to take care of. Shane made sure to take it of it. He made it collaps on the ground, and started kicking it across it's body. He was quickly joined by Tyler, Andrea, T-Dog and Alejandro and the entire group focused their attention on kicking this one walker until it couldn't move anymore.

"Tyler." Shane said, making everyone stop and turn to look at him, "Can you do the honors?"

He didn't had to say it twice to the red clothed teenager. The jock moved over to the walker and proceeded to smash it's head until there was nothing left of it, unleashing his anger on this one walker which was caused by him failing to save Dale from sharing the same fate as Lindsay. The group stared at the bloody mush that used to be a head just a few seconds ago, for a second, before turning to look at each other.

Their work here was done. They made their way back to the truck and drove off back to the farm.

After all, there was a funeral that they had to attend.

* * *

The sun was starting to disappear from the horizon as the entire group was gathered around the grave that they had dug for Dale to honor him. His grave was placed right next to DJ's Momma. Everyone in the group were saddened by his death. Dale was one of the kindest people you could come across and he didn't deserve to die like this. Andrea, Bridgette, DJ, Carl and Glenn weren't afraid to show their tears.

Tyler was crying too, despise disagreeing recently with Dale on many things, the jock respected the eldery man. After all he was the one that made him leave that CDC building before the explosion. Dale saved his life, but now Tyler failed to save his...

"Dale could get under your skin. He sure got under mine, because he wasn't afraid to say exactly what he thought,how he felt." Rick began his speech to honor Dale's life and death as everyone listened carefully to everything he had to say, "That kind of honesty is rare and brave. Whenever I'd make a decision, I'd look at Dale. He'd be looking back at me with that look he had. We've all seen it one time or another. I couldn't always read him,but he could read us. He saw people for who they were. He knew things about us..."

The sheriff deputy stopped for a moment and looked around his group, before continuing his speech, "The truth, who we really are. In the end, he was talking about losing our humanity. He said this group was broken. The best way to honor him is to unbreak it. Set aside our differences and pull together, stop feeling sorry for ourselves and take control of our lives, bour safety..."

"Our future." He continued, after another moment of silence, "We're not broken. We're gonna prove him wrong. From now on we're gonna do it his way. That is how we honor Dale..."

The group started to separate shorty after Rick was done speaking for Dale.

* * *

This day was certainly a busy one for the group because they were taking their things from their camp to the farm house. Most of the members of the group were packing their stuff into the vehicles while Rick, Hershel, Shane, Daryl, Maggie, Chris and Chef stood together.

"Gonna be tight for all of us in one house." Rick stated.

"I couldn't have said it better myself. I'm exactly sure how we're going to fit in this house." Chef agreed with him.

"Yeah." Chris nodded his head in agreement, "It's not as big as my house."

"House? You mean your villa?" Chef asked him.

Chris rolled his eyes at his fellow host, "I haven't seen it in months, and I don't think I'm going to see it ever again."

"Don't worry about that." Hershel assured them, "With the swamp hardening, the creek drying up..."

"With 50 head of cattle on the property,we might as well be ringing a damn dinner bell." Maggie finished for her father.

"She's right." Hershel nodded his head, "We should've moved you in a while ago."

"All right,let's move the vehicles near each of the doors facing out toward the road." Rick began as everyone split up to help the others pack their stuff, "We'll build a lookout in the windmill, another in the barn loft. That should give us sightlines both sides of the property. T-Dog, Alejandro, I want you two and Chef to take the perimeter around the house. Keep track of everyone coming and going."

"What about standing guard?" Alejandro asked.

"Duncan, Daryl and Izzy will take care of it." Rick answered.

"Gotcha." T-Dog said as Alejandro gave a silent nod of his head in response.

Hershel walked past Rick, carrying a few boxes, "I'll stock the basement with food and water,enough that we can all survive there a few days if need be."

"What about patrols?" Andrea asked.

"Let's get this area locked down first. After that, Shane'll assign shifts while me, Chef, Chris and Daryl take Randall offsite and cut him loose." Rick answered.

He turned to look at Shane who shook his head, "We're back to that now?"

"It was the right plan first time around." Rick stated, "It just had poor execution."

Shane laughed, "That's a slight understatement."

"You don't agree,but this is what's happening. Swallow it. Move on." Rick told him.

"You know that Dale's death and the prisoner are two separate things, right?" Shane asked him, "You wanna take Daryl, Chef and Chris as your wingmen, be my guest."

Rick nodded his head, "Thank you."

"You got it." Shane nodded in return as Rick turned to walk away from him. Shane turned to look at Lori and the two exchaned a look with each other

Andrea and Tyler had just finished packing some stuff into the trunk of the blue truck as the group started to walk back towards the farm house. Andrea slammed the truck a few times, giving DJ who was the one behind the wheel a signal to start up the car. She didn't had to wait long for his reaction as DJ quickly started up the car and started driving towards the house.

"I see why you're not taking Shane with you." Andrea and Tyler heard Hershel to Rick as they walked next to them, "Just know I've got no more patience where he's concerned."

"He's turning over a new leaf." Rick answered, as he turned to look at Tyler and Andrea, "Guys. When I'm out with Daryl, Chef and Chris, help Hershel keep an eye on things around here."

Andrea and Tyler shared a confused look with each other, "Us?"

"Shane's got a way of letting things get out of hand, especially when he's all torqued up." Rick explained.

"If you're staying here permanently, he's got to understand that it's what Rick and I say, not whatever he wants." Hershel added.

"You've become close." Rick stated.

"We talk." Andrea answered.

"Yeah." Tyler nodded his head, "He's our friend."

"Then you know he's not a bad guy." Rick stated, "He's just his own worst enemy."

Andrea and Tyler exchanged a look with each other, when they realized what Rick meant by that, the former asking just to be sure, "You want us to babysit Shane?"

Rick sighed, "I need to make sure every time I leave the farm all hell doesn't break loose."

"Then maybe you should stop leaving." Tyler said to which Andrea nodded in agreement.

Rick shook his head and turned away from them as Tyler and Andrea started walking away from him. The sheriff deputy turned to look at them again and asked, "Will you keep an eye on things?"

"Of course." Andrea replied as Tyler remained silent, not even turning to look at Rick and Hershel. The two of them proceeded to walk towards the farm house., "Hey, Tyler?"

"What is it?" Tyler asked her.

"How are you holding up?" Andrea asked him in return, "After what happened to Dale last night?"

Tyler sighed, "I'm trying not to think about it. I disagreed with him on many things since we started staying on this farm, but I just wish there was something I could have done to save him. He didn't deserve to die like this. I I never even told him that I was grateful for him talking out of staying in the CDC before that explosion, despise me not acting like I did."

"I wish there was something we could have done to save him too, but I don't there's anything to worry about." Andrea said, placing her hand on her friends shoulder to comfort him, "He talked me out of staying there as well, and I have my share of regrets, but I think that he knew how much we cared for him and he knew that you appreciated him, even though you never had a chance to tell him about that."

Tyler just offered his friend a small smile and anod of his head in response, as Andrea returned it and smiled back as they walked into the house to set up their place.

* * *

Shane and Chef exchanged a quick look with each other as they were putting some wood in the trunk of a car. The two of them didn't really talk for the few days mostly because of their difference of choices how to keep their group safe, even though the two of them actually became good friends during their time in Atlanta.

"You know something, man?" Shane asked him.

"What?" Chef asked him in return, throwing a piece of wood into the trunk.

"You never actually told me how you got out of there alive." Shane told him, "I thought that the walkers got you when you stopped shooting at them. How did you survived that night."

"The situation was bad for me, but I am still here as you can see." Chef began, "I hid in one of the rooms and waited for the dawn."

"That's it?" Shane asked, "I doubt that they would just give up on you."

"Because they didn't." Chef answered, "I had to lean against the doors for a few hours until they gave up. When I saw sun rising the first I did was leaving that place. What matters the most is that we saved Carl."

"How do you feel about Dale's death?" Shane asked,

"I think the answer is quite obvious." Chef answered, "I'm sad that we couldn't save him but at the same time I know that there was nothing we could do to save him. He was a good man and he didn't deserve to die like this."

Shane nodded his head in understanding, before realizing something, "This may be the friendliest talk we had with each other since we found out about that barn."

"Yeah." Chef nodded his head to that, "You had different mind about how we should handle that situation and I had different mind how we should handle the barn. We had different minds about how we should keep our group safe. As much as I hate to state this, arguments between us were going to happen sooner or later. and we may have more of them in the future, even if we don't want to accept this fact, because as I already said, we all have different minds about many things. The entire discussion about Randall is a great example of it. "

"Yeah." Shane only nodded his head to that, "You might be right, man."

It was when they how a young voice that belonged to Carl say to them, "Hey, Shane, Chef?"

"What's up, man?" Shane asked, turning to look at Carl.

Chef turned to look at Carl as well, "What you doing, wandering around by yourself?"

"If, um." Carl paused, starting to have seconds thoughts about saying this to them, "if I tell you something, will you promise not to tell my parents?"

Shane rubbed his hands, "I think it's probably a bad idea for both of us, bud."

"We will have to tell that to your parents If this will be something too important to hide." Chef added to which Shane nodded in agreement.

Carl obviously didn't like their answers and turned to walk away from them, making Shane sigh, "Hey, Carl. Come on back."

The boy stopped and turned to look at Shane and Chef again before making his way back to them. Shane placed two more pieces of wood into the trunk and leaned against the car as Chef sat down on the log.

"Go on." Chef told him, "What is it that you want to talk about with us?"

Carl turned around to see if his mom or dad weren't around before turning back to Shane and Chef. He pulled out a pistol and handed it to Shane, "I took it from Daryl's motorcycle. If he found out I took it, he'd kill me."

Shane eyed the pistol, "What you doing with this?"

Carl thought for a seconds, before letting out a nervous response, "It's my fault-Dale. It's my fault that he died."

Shane and Chef shared a suprised look with each other, shocked that Carl would even say something like this.

"Why would you say that, boy?" Chef asked him, "Dale was bitten by a walker. I was the one who found him with Daryl, remember?"

"I saw that walker." Carl declared, "I was gonna shoot it. It was stuck in the mud. I was-I was throwing rocks at it and stuff. But I was gonna do it-shoot it right in the head. And it-it got free,came after me and...I ran away. If I had killed it, Dale would still be here."

"Carl, I want you to stop that,okay? This ain't your fault. But you need to hold onto this. You need to protect yourself." Shane said to Carl, holding the pistol out to him, "Now look, as long as I'm around you,n othing's gonna happen to you, Carl. But I can't keep my eyes on you 24/7 only you can do that. Carl, take it."

Carl shook his head, turning to walk away from them, "I'm never touching another gun again."

Chef sighed, "I'm sorry, young one but that's not an option."

"Just give it back to Daryl." Carl told them, walking away.

* * *

The group was starting to settle down in the house. Noah had just setting his stuff next to Owen and Izzy and sat down. He didn't had much stuff. Most of the stuff he really owned right now were books that he mostly found on that highway.

"It will be just like sleeping in those cabins again!" Owen exclaimed, as he sat down next to Noah. This entire thing reminded him of the time when they were sleeping in the cabins in the first season.

Izzy who sat down next to him nodded her head, "You can say that, big guy."

"Minus the bunk beds part." Noah stated as he turned to look at Chris who was helping with some stuff, "And our beloved hosts will be sleeping with us."

"Wawanakwa." Izzy sighed at the mention of that name, "After what happened in the lastt few months, It feels like a lifetime ago when we were chased by Chef who was dressed like a psycho that scared the hell out of us."

"I miss those time, you know?" Owen sighed sadly, "When we didn't had to worry about walkers, when we didn't had to worry about how Geoff and the others are doing right now, when we didn't had to worry about our families, when Lindsay was still alive. I just wish we could go back to the times when we arrived on that dock for the first time."

Izzy and Noah exchanged a look with each other. The orange haired teenager placed her hand on her boyfriends shoulders comfortingly, "Owen. I know that the last months were hard for all of us and I know that we're still far away from being completely safe, but I can assure you that we'll get through everything that will come against us. We have a home now and we'll do everything we can to make it safe for all of us."

"I'm having a hard time picturing both of you as a farmers, you know?" Noah asked, his usually blank expression turning into a small smirk.

Izzy laughed, and so did Owen, his saddened expression ligtening up a bit, as his girlfriend said to Noah, "Like you'd be a better farmer than us, bookworm!"

Noah rolled his eyes, but smiled nevertheless, as Glenn approached them, holding his things, "Hey, Noah. Would you mind if I slept next to you?"

The bookworm raised his brow as he looked up at the asian man, "Aren't you going to sleep with Maggie?"

"No." Glenn shook his head, "What would Hershel think about this?"

"You do know that Hershel likes you?" Noah pointed out, "You're the one who was showing me the watch that he gave you before our little discussion about that guy i the shed."

Glenn sighed, "Should I take that as a no?"

"What are you talking about? Help yourself if you want to." Noah asked as he shrugged his shoulders, pointing to his other empty side where Owen and Izzy didn't had their spots, "There's plenty of space left here."

* * *

Rick, Daryl, and Chris were outside on the porch. A map was placed in front looking for a good place where they should leave Randall. Chef was with them too. The co-host of Total Drama offered to help Shane in his work but he declined his offer, telling him that he should talk with Rick, Daryl and Chris about where they should leave Randall.

Chef knew that he had to tell Rick about the talk he had with Carl not that long ago about his son blaming himself for Dale's death, and this was actually the first thing he was going to do after they'd be done with planning.

"Take him out to senoia." Rick said, placing his finger on one spot on the map as Daryl's, Chef's and Chris' gaze followed it, "Hour there, hour back, give or take. We may lose the light, but we'll be halfway home by then."

"Seems like a good spot." Chris stated.

"Yeah. This little pain in the ass will be a distant memory." Daryl agreed.

"Carol and DJ are putting together some provisions for him, enough to last a few days." Rick declared. He turned his attention to Daryl, to talk about what the younger Dixon did last night, "That thing you did last night..."

"Ain't no reason you should do all the heavy lifting." Daryl answered.

Rick nodded his head as they heard someone driving towards them. The car stopped in front of the house and Shane got out of it, beginning to walk towards Rick, Chef, Chris and Daryl.

Daryl saw Shane walking towards them and didn't want to get involed in the talk Rick was most likely going to have with him. He excused himself, and Chris did shorty after.

"You're not going?" He asked his fellow hsot.

"I have to talk with Rick about something." Chef explained.

"Alright." Chris nodded his head. The host of Total Drama walked away, leaving Rick and Chef with Shane.

"Rick." Chef began, turning to look at Rick, once Chris and Daryl were gone, "We need to talk about something. It's about your son."

"Where is he?" Shane asked, shorty after Chef brought up this topic.

Rick shifted his attention between Chef and Shane before answering, "He's inside with his mother."

"Look, he came to us today when Chef was helping me with some wood." Shane began, "We weren't supposed to say anything,but he was out in the swamps yesterday and he came across a walker stuck in the mud. He got scared, run off."

Rick quickly realized where this story was heading, "The same walker that killed Dale?"

Chef nodded his head in confirmation, sadly, "That's the one."

"I don't know about Chef, but I think he wants to talk to his father." Shane added.

"Well, I need this Randall thing done already." Rick pointed out.

"How about I ride out with Daryl, Chef and Chris?" Shane offered, "Be good for us to spend a little time together."

Rick shook his head, "Nah, I need you here."

"Don't think I'll handle it right, huh?" Shane wanted to know, pulling out the pistol that Carl gave him earlier that day, "You know, your son gave me this. You should get that back to Daryl, huh? Freeing that prisoner is more important to you than Carl."

* * *

After giving a moment to think about it, Rick decided to talk with his son about what happened last night to Dale. He went into the house where his wife told him that Carl was at the lookout in the barn right now. He made his way to the barn and saw Carl sitting on the edge of the upper level, his legs hanging down. The sheriff deputy entered the barn and climbed up the ladder to the upper level and walked over to his son.

He sat down next to him, "Mom said you'd be here."

Carl sighed, "Told her I would stand lookout. I got tired of helping around the house."

Rick nodded his head to Carl's words before pulling out the pistol that Carl gave Shane earlier that day, "Take it. What happened to Dale had nothing to do with you."

Carl remained unresponsive. He just proceeded to stare at the pistol in front of his face for several seconds before stuttering out, "H-He died, dad."

"Yeah." Rick nodded his head to that, putting the pistol aside for a moment, "Feels like there's a lot of that going around. That's why I need you. No more kid stuff. I wish you could have the childhood I had, but that's not gonna happen. People are gonna die. I'm gonna die. Mom. There's no way you can ever be ready for it. I try to be, but I can't. The best we can do now is avoid it as long as we can, keep one step ahead. I wish I had something better to say, something more profound. My father was good like that. But I'm tired, son."

He held the pistol out for Carl to take again, "Please take it."

Although he was a bit hesitant about this, Carl eventually took the pistol from his father who wrapped his arm around him as the two of them watched the farm from the upper level of the barn.

* * *

Chris made sure that his Glock was loaded and had it's safety on, before placing his pistol in his pocket. He, Daryl and Chef were gathered around Otis's blue truck, preparing themselves to take Randall away from the farm where they would leave him, getting rid of this problem for good.

"Only got so many arrows." T-Dog said, approaching Daryl with Duncan and Alejandro before giving him a revolver.

"Is that Dale's gun?" Daryl asked, checking if the pistol was loaded.

T-Dog nodded his head in confirmation, "Yeah."

"Wish I knew where the hell mine is." Daryl stated, holstering the revolver.

"Did you searched everywhere?" Duncan asked him.

Daryl looked at hm as if it was the most obvious question ever, "What do you think, juvie?"

"I dunno, redneck." Duncan shrugged his shoulders.

Chef closed the trunk of the trunk, and looked around everyone gathered around it, "Ready?"

"Yeah." Chris nodded his head.

"Let's get this over with." Daryl added as Rick approached them.

"We'll get the prisoner." Alejandro said, turning to walk towards the shed with T-Dog and Duncan, intending to take Randall out to bring it to Rick, Chef, Chris and Daryl.

Rick nodded his head, "Thanks."

Duncan walked in front of Alejandro and T-Dog as they walked together towards the shed. It took them a quick moment to make their way to it and the juvie slammed his fists doors and declared to loudly, "It's your lucky day. You're getting out of our little prison."

He opened the door and entered the shed. His eyes snapped open in shock when he saw that Randall was not in there. He must have broken out. Alejandro and T-Dog entered the shed shorty after him and were greeted by the same view.

"Oh, hell no." T-Dog shook his head, his eyes wide in shock.

"Amigos, we need to the tell the others." Alejandro stated.

The spanish teen didn't had to repeat himself as they practically shoved themselves towards the opened doors, exiting the shed and pushing themselves into run back to Rick, Daryl, Chris and Chef to inform them that their prison has escaped.

"Guys!" Duncan shouted, earning the attention of the sheriff deputy, redneck and two hosts of Total Drama.

'What happened?" Chef asked them as Duncan, Alejandro and T-Dog stopped in front o them.

"Where's Randall?" Daryl asked shorty after, noticing that they didn't brought Randall with them.

"Randall's gone." T-Dog declared.

"What?" Rick asked instantly after hearing T-Dog's answer.

"We checked the shed, and he isn't there." Duncan explained.

"He escaped." Alejandro added.

This answer was enough for Rick. He knew what he had to do next, "Guys, You take the others and bring them to the shed. I, Chef, Chris and Daryl will be waiting for you by the shed."

Everyone listened to what the sheriff deputy had to say and knew what to do next. Rick, Chris, Chef and Daryl ran towards the shed while Duncan, T-Dog and Alejandro went into the house to inform everyone that Randall has escaped. They made sure to earn the attention of every member of the group before informing them about their recent exactly got the reaction that they were excepting from them at such news as everyone ran out from the house and made their way to the shed.

"The cuffs are still hooked." Chris stated, walking out from the shed with Rick and Chef as the entire group gathered around it.

Chef shook his head, "He must've slipped 'em."

"Is that even possible?" Cody raised his brow.

"It is if you've got nothing to lose, soldier." Chef answered to which Cody just gave a nod of his head.

"Wait a second." Harold said, earning everyone's attention, "Weren't the doors secured from the outside?"

Hershel nodded his head in confirmation, "They were."

"Rick!" A familiar voice declared as everyone turned to the source of it and saw Shane coming out from the forest, blood dripping down his face, "Rick!"

"Shane?" Lori said as Shane continued to approach them.

"He's armed!" Shane declared, "He's got my gun!"

"What happened to you?" Tyler asked him.

"I'm fine, kid." Shane assured him with a nod of his head, "Little bastard just snuck up on me. He clocked me in the face."

Rick's response to Shane's declaration was immediate. He turned to look at his group, "Chris, Hershel, Alejandro T-Dog, get everybody back in the house. Daryl, Glenn, Chef, Duncan, and Harold come with us."

"T, I'm gonna need that gun." Shane said, coming towards the dark skinned man.

"Just let him go." Carol said as Shane took the pistol from T-Dog, "That was the plan,wasn't it, to just let him go?"

"The plan was to cut him loose far away from here, not on our front step with a gun." Rick pointed out.

"Don't go out there. Y'all know what can happen." Carol told them as Rick, Shane, Chef, Duncan, Daryl, Glenn and Harold started heading into the forest to find Randall.

Rick looked over his shoulder at the rest of his group, "Get everybody back in the house. Lock all the doors and stay put!"

The people from the group that were staying at the farm turned back and started making their way back to the house while the search party consisting of Rick, Shane, Daryl, Glenn, Chef, Duncan and Harold entered the forest. They marched together through the woods and followed Shane who walked ahead of them for a while before stopping in front of a certain spot in the forest.

"This is here." He told them, pointing at the area in front of him, "I saw him head up through the trees that way before I blacked out. I'm not sure how long."

"If he's here then we'll find him. I don't think he couldn't have gotten far." Harold stated, holding his knife in ready, "He's hobbled, and exhausted."

"And armed." Glenn pointed out, wielding a machete.

"So are we, Glenny." Duncan pointed out in return, an arrow was loaded in his bow, ready to use it at any moment, "And we're outnumbering him."

Rick turned to look at Daryl and Chef, "Can you two track him?"

"No." Daryl shook his head, looking around, "I don't see nothing."

"Same here." Chef nodded his head.

"Hey, look, there ain't no use in tracking him, okay? He went that way." Shane said, pointing forward, "We need to split up. We spread out, we just chase him down."

"Kid weighs a buck-25 soaking wet. You trying to tell us he got the jump on you?" Daryl asked him, having seconds thoughts about the story that Shane told them.

Harold placed his hand on his chin, and nodded in agreement to Daryl's words, "It's true That is rather unlikely."

"I say a rock pretty much evens those odds, wouldn't you?" Shane argued, "Even Harold here or Owen would be able to knock me down with one."

"All right, knock it off. " Rick stopped them before this could turn into a bigger argument which was the last thing they needed right now, "You, Duncan, Chef, Harold and Glenn start heading up the right flank. Me and Shane'll take the left. Remember, Randall's not the only threat out there. Keep an eye out for each other."

* * *

The group split up into two search parties and parted ways. They were searching for Randall for a while now. The sun was already gone from the horizon and the darkened sky wasn't making things easier for them. It made it harder for them to spot any traces that Randall could leave which could potentially lead them to the fugitive.

Duncan sighed and shook his head, "This is pointless."

"You're telling me, kid." Daryl said, before turning to look at Glenn and Harold, "You got a light?"

He didn't had to wait long for the answer. Harold quickly pulled a flashlight out from his pocket and handed it to the younger Dixon, "Here."

"Thanks." Daryl said, turning the flashlight on.

The younger Dixon started moving the small light around him and his fellow members of the search party, trying to spot anything that could have been left by Randall as he walked in front of the group with Chef who was doing his best do spot any traces as well. Duncan, Glenn and Harold walked closely behind them.

He finally managed to spot something in front of them as he moved the flashlight towards it, making sure that the other will see it too, "Guys. I think I found something."

Chef looked in the direction that Daryl was pointing at and saw it too, "There's two sets of tracks right here. Shane must've followed him a lot longer than he said."

"I think I have something." Harold spotted something as well. He stepped forward from the group, and walked towards a tree. He pointed at the fresh drop of blood on it, "There's fresh blood on this tree."

"More tracks over here." Duncan said, as he crouched down, earning everyone attention. They went over to the juvie and gathered around him, taking a good look at the traces that he just found, "I'm not an expert, but it seems like they were walking in tandem."

Daryl shined the flashlight at the area ahead of Duncan and quickly noticed something, "There was a little dust up right here."

"What do you mean?" Glenn asked.

"I mean something went down." Daryl explained.

"It would explain fresh blood on the tree." Chef stated to which Daryl nodded in agreement.

"It's getting weird." Harold stated.

"You took those words out my mouth." Glenn agreed with the nerd.

Something caught Chef's attention on the ground. He crouched down in front of it and picked it up to show it off to the rest of the search party. It was Randall's blindfold, "Take a look at this."

It was when they heard something break behind them. Someone must have step on a stick. They quickly hurried over to the closest trees and hid behind them, just in case if it was Randall with Shane's gun. Chef leaned out a bit from his cover and saw someone walking between the other trees. The silhouette fit the person they were looking for perfectly.

He nodded his head at everyone else, telling them that it was Randall, or least he thought it was him, but it was the most obvious option right now. He doubted that it was another person. Daryl loaded an arrow into his crossbow, hearing how Randall was getting closer to them and leaned out from his cover, only to be attacked by a walker.

Everyone took a good look at this walker and saw that it was Randall. He had turned into the undead, but when did that happened? When was he bitten? These questions were going have to wait as Daryl was still fighting off the walker that used to be Randall. Harold quickly went over to them and stabbed the undead right in it's head with his knife, finishing it off for good.

"You okay?" Harold asked him, pulling his knife out from Randall's corpse.

"Yeah." Daryl nodded his head, giving the nerdy teenager a slep on his shoulder, "Thanks."

Glenn glanced down at Randall's body, "We found him."

"Or what's left off him." Duncan stated.

Daryl crouched down in front of Randall's body and everyone quickly followed his example, taking a good look at the young man's body as Daryl moved the light along it, searching for any bites.

"Got his neck broke." Chef stated, pointing at Randall's neck, "I can't see any bites on his body too."

"None you can see." Glenn stated.

"No." Chef shook his head, causing Glenn to look at him in confusion, "He wasn't bitten. He died from having his neck broken."

'Then how did he changed into one of those things?" Daryl wondered, confused.

"I don't know." Chef answered, looking as confused as Daryl and Glenn.

"Duncan." Harold stated, earning the attention of the said juvie, "It's just like the man back in that building."

Duncan's eyes widened in realization, "You're right, Doris."

"What are you two talkin about?" Daryl asked to which Chef, Izzy and Glenn nodded in agreement, wondering what the juvie and the nerd meant by that.

"When the two of us went with Rick, Shane and Tyler to leave Randall somewhere away from the farm, we were send to check a building for supplies." Duncan began, "We found a body of a guy there that changed into one of those things and attacked us. Doris here checked his body to see if he had any bittes or scratches and he didn't had any."

"How's that possible?" Glenn asked, exchanging a confused look with everyone.

"I don't know." Harold answered, "We were confused as much are you are right now."

"We should head back to the farm." Chef said, bringing himself back on his feet, "Tell the others about it."

Everyone agreed with him. They all got themselves back on their feet and started making their way back towards the farm, leaving Randall's body behind.

* * *

Rick and Shane were walking together through the forest for a long time now and they couldn't find anything that could take them to Randall's possible location. Rick wanted to change paths but Shane insisted that this one would be as good as any. This one path that they continued to walk along with eventually lead them to the edge of the forest.

"You say he got you with a rock?" Rick asked, walking in front of Shane.

"That's what I said." Shane nodded his head as they exited the forest, entering the fields of Hershel's farm.

"Inside the shed?" Rick asked him another question, slowly starting to realize what really happened, "'Cause that door was shut when T-Dog, Duncan and Alejandro rolled up."

Shane shrugged his shoulders, placing his hand on the pistol that T-Dog gave him before they left the farm. He stopped and just watched how Rick continued to walk. "I saw that too. Must've slipped through the rafters in the roof."

"So." Rick stopped walking after a second when he realized what really happened. How Randall really broke out from his prison and why Shane would help him break out, even though he was against this idea. It all made sense now. The sheriff deputy holstered his Python,, "This is how you planned to do it?"

"It's a good place as any." Shane stated.

Rick looked over his shoulder to look at him. He saw his pull out the pistol, "At least have the balls to call this what it is murder. You really believe if you walk back onto that farm alone, without me, or Randall..."

Shane pointed at Rick, attempting to shush him, "I want you to hush up."

Rick didn't listen to him and continued, now fully looking at Shane, "You really believe they're gonna buy whatever bullshit story you cook up?"

"That's just it. It ain't no story." Shane told him, his eyes not leaving the man that was his best friend, "I saw that prisoner shoot you down. I ran after him. I snapped his neck. It ain't gonna be easy. Lori and Carl will get over you. They done it before. They just gonna have to."

He aimed his pistol right at Rick's forehead, a perfect kill shot, making the sheriff deputy exhale, "Why? Why now? I thought we worked this all out."

Shane laughed, keeping his pistol aimed at Rick, "We tried to kill each other man. What you think? We just gonna forget about it all? We gonna ride off into the sunset together?"

"You're gonna kill me in cold blood?" Rick asked, raising his voice, "Screw my wife? Have my children call you daddy? Is that what you want? That life won't be worth a damn. I know you. You won't be able to live with this."

"What you know about what I can live with?" Shane asked, starting to raise his voice too as he lowered his pistol, "You got no idea what I can live with, what I live with! You wanna talk about what I can do, Rick? How about what you can do?" He placed his pistol in his pocket, leaving him completely vulnerable position. He raised his hands in the air, declaring, "Here I am. Come on, man. Raise your gun."

"No." Rick shook his head, "No, I will not."

"What happened, Rick? I thought you weren't the good guy anymore. Ain't that what you said?!' Shane shouted, as Rick just stared at him, letting out deep breaths at every word that left his best friend mouth, "Even right here, right now, you ain't gonna fight for 'em? I'm a better father than you, Rick. I'm better for Lori than you, man. It's 'cause I'm a better man than you, Rick. 'Cause I can be here and I'll fight for it. **You come back here and you just destroy everything!** "

He shook his head, waiting for Rick to reply, but he didn't, making him continue. He pulled out his pistol and aimed it at Rick, once again, "You got a broken woman. You got a weak boy. You ain't got the first clue in how to fix it. C'mon, raise your gun."

"You're gonna have to kill an unarmed man." Rick said, raising his hands in the air. He started moving his right hand towards the holster, "Watch my hand. Nice and easy. Easy does it." He pulled his Python out from it's holster and held it in front of himself. He wasn't even aiming it at Shane. He slowly started approaching his best friend who had his pistol still aimed at him, "Now listen to me, Shane. There is still a way back from this. Nothing has happened here. We're gonna lay down our guns and we're gonna walk back to the farm together. Back to Lori. Back to Carl. Put this all behind us."

He stopped in front of Shane who was letting one deep breath after another at this point. He held his Python out to him as Shane reached his free hand out, intending to grab it. It was when Rick reached his other hand into his pocket and pulled out a knife, before stabbing Shane right in the stomach with it. Shane's pistol fired and the bullet went flying in the air.

Shane stumbled backwards as Rick grabbed him and laid him down on the ground. Blood started coming out from Shane's mouth, "Damn you for making me do this, Shane. This was you, not me! You did this to us! This was you, not me! Not me! Not me!"

The sheriff deputy pulled his knife out from Shane's body who stared down at his wound as his own blood continued to cover his clothes. Shane struggled to breath as Rick only watched how the man that was his best friend slowly suffocated in his own blood. Shane's head slowly feel to the side as he just stopped moving. He was gone.

Rick looked away from Shane's lifeless body and let out a painful scream as he could feel tears coming into his eyes. He didn't want do this. He didn't want to kill his best friend but he left him no other choice. He stood up and placed his hand over his eyes to wipe the tears that were coming into his eyes.

It was when his heart almost stopped when he saw Carl, his son standing in the distance.

Carl continued to stare at him as his dad turned his attention towards him, "...Dad?"

"Carl." Rick said, beginning to walk towards his son. He still couldn't believe that he had to kill his best friend, and now worst of all, he knew that his son saw him end Shane's life. Carl started breathing heavily as he aimed his pistol at his dad. Rick stopped when his son did that. Tears started appearing in Carl's eyelids as Rick held a hand out to him, trying to calm him down, "Just put the gun down. It's not what it seems. Please."

Carl pulled the trigger and his pistol fired. The bullet didn't hit Rick because it wasn't fired towards him. It hit Shane who changed into a walker just a few seconds earlier right in the head, killing him instantly.

Rick turned back and saw Shane's body laying in front of him and Carl with a hole placed right in his forehead. He started to approach Shane's body as Carl slowly followed him. He crouched down at looked at Shane's body as Carl stood behind him, his eyes watering up at the view in front of him.

They had no idea that a huge herd of walkers was heading towards the farm right at this moment...

* * *

**I'm going to miss writing Shane so freaking much (He's my favourite character in the show)...**

**Only one more chapter left to go in season 2!**


	19. Beside the Dying Fire

It was a while since Rick, Shane, Daryl, Glenn, Chef, Duncan and Harold went into the forest, looking for Randall and they still haven't returned from their search. The group was obviously starting to grow worried for them that something may have happen to them in the forest.

Andrea stood up from her seat, deciding that it was time go for look for them, declaring to everyone, "I'm going after them."

"I'm coming with you." Tyler nodded his head to that.

Izzy stood up from her spot as well, "Make it three, guys."

"Don't." Lori shook her head, "They could be anywhere. And if Randall comes back, we're gonna need you here."

Everyone's attention was brought towards the front doors when they heard someone enter the house. Daryl, Glenn, Chef, Duncan and Harold entered the living room shorty after as everyone set their eyes on them.

Daryl looked around the group and spotted that two people were missing, "Rick and Shane ain't back?"

Bridgette shook her head in response, "No."

"We thought that something happened." Chef declared, "We heard a shot on our way here."

Cody put hand in his chin, "Maybe they found Randall."

"That's not an option." Duncan shook his head.

Sierra raised her brow, "Why?"

"Because we found him." Daryl answered.

"Is he back in the shed?" Maggie asked.

"No." Harold shook his head, "He's a walker."

"Did you find the walker that bit him?" Hershel wanted to know.

"No, the weird thing is he wasn't bit." Glenn explained.

"His neck was broke." Chef added to Glenn's explanation.

"So, he fought back." Patricia stated.

"The thing is, Shane and Randall's tracks were right on top of each other." Daryl explained, "And Shane ain't no tracker, so he didn't come up behind him. They were together."

"We believe that Shane wasn't honest with us when it came to Randall." Harold added to which Daryl nodded in agreement.

Lori came over to them, "Would you please get back out there, find Rick and Shane and find out what on earth is going on?"

Daryl nodded his head, turning towards the exit from the house, "You got it."

"We'll be back as soon as we can with your husband and Shane." Chef gave Lori an assuring nod, following the younger Dixon.

Lori send them a grateful nod, "Thank you."

* * *

Rick and Carl turned away from Shane's lifeless body and started walking back towards the farm, where the former was going to inform his group about what had happened with Randall and why Shane didn't came back with him. It would still be easy part, considering that he'd have to tell his wife and their son saw him kill Shane and then had to put him down after he turned into a walker.

Carl looked up at his dad, asking him, "You bit too?"

"No." Rick shook his head in response.

"Shane was." Carl stated, looking down.

"That wasn't Shane." Rick stated, "You know that."

"Used to be. What happened?" Carl asked, "You guys attacked? I mean, I heard a gunshot, but I didn't see any walkers nearby."

They stopped walking and looked at each other. Rick was silent for a few seconds, trying to find a way how to tell Carl what really happened, but never had a chance to do it because they heard growling behind them. They turned in the direction of growling and saw dozens of walker heading their way.

"Oh, God." Rick said, as he turned away from, beginning to make his way away from with Carl, "Go, go, go."

They broke themselves into run and started to run away from the herd of the undead that they just spotted. They continued to run away from them for a few moments until they stopped behind a tree, not that far from the barn.

Carl crouched down along with his dad, saying to him, "We gotta get to the house, tell the others."

"We'll never get through that. Can't go around." Rick shook his head, hearing how walkers were walking just meters away from them. He and his son stood up, before they started running towards the barn as it was the only place they could hide in now, "Carl, stay close. Go!"

* * *

Daryl, Chef, Glenn, Duncan, and Harold came out from the house, intending to go back into the forest to look for Rick and Shane, but stopped on the porch when they saw something in the distance. It was a herd of the walkers, approaching the farm from all sides.

Duncan shook his head, his eyes widening at the view ahead of him, "Holy shit."

"There's so many of them." Glenn stated, his eyes wide from his big this herd was. It was just as big as the herds he saw in Atlanta, or maybe even bigger. He honestly didn't want to know.

"Everyone!" Chef went back to the entrance to the house, declaring to everyone about the herd, "Walkers!"

He quickly went back to Daryl, Glenn, Duncan and Harold as everyone rushed out from the house, noticing the incoming horde of the undead.

"What do we do now?" Owen asked, shaking his head in panic at the view of so many walkers.

Hershel turned to look at Patricia, "Patricia, kill the lights."

Patricia nodded her head and went back into the house, followed by Beth, and Andrea who told everyone, "I'll get the guns." before entering the house.

"Maybe they're just passing, like the herd on the highway." Glenn stated, "Should we just go inside?"

"Not unless there's a tunnel downstairs I don't know about.." Daryl said.

"A herd this huge would tear the barn down without any problems." Noah stated.

Daryl nodded his head to that, "That too."

"What are we going to do now?" DJ asked.

Rick and Carl rushed into the barn, making sure to shut the entrance behind them as best as it was possible. Rick saw a metal road hanging on the wall and quckly grabbed it before placing it between the handles, stopping the walkers from entering the barn. He and son stepped backwards as they could hear walkers slamming their bodies against the entrance to the barn. The sheriff deputy knew that it was just a matter of time before the undead will break into the barn and he new that he had think fast.

Lori came out of the house, declaring to everyone, "Carl's gone."

"What?" Tyler asked, turning to look at her.

"He was upstairs. I can't find him anywhere." Lori explained, panicked.

"Maybe he's hiding somewhere." Ezekiel suggested.

"He's supposed to be upstairs." Lori shook her head, "I'm not leaving without my boy."

"We're not. We're gonna look again." Carol said, grabbing Lori's arm.

"We're gonna find him." Bridgette said, returning to the house with Carol, Lori. Leshawna and Gwen.

Andrea returned to the group, carrying the gun bag over her shoulder. She placed it on the floor, as the entire group surrounded it. She unzipped it, revealing every gun that it had to offer to the rest of the group. Everyone started taking out one gun for them each.

Glenn's eyes widened a bit when he saw Maggie take two shotgun out from the bag, before handing one to him, "Maggie?"

"You grow up country, you pick up a thing or two." Maggie explained, as Glenn took the shotgun that she was handing to him.

"I got the number, it's no use." Daryl stated.

Hershel cocked his shotgun, turning his attention to Daryl, "You can go if you want."

"You gonna take 'em all on?" Daryl asked him.

"Do you think that we'll get even get close to finishing all of them off?" Duncan added.

"We have guns." Hershel answered, "We have cars."

"Kill as many as we can." Chef stated, readying his shotgun and his handgun.

"And we'll use the cars to lead the rest of them off the farm." Tyler added, checking if the pistol he took from the gun bag was fully loaded.

"Are you serious?" Daryl asked, a deadpanned expression forming on his face.

"This is my farm. I'll die here." Hershel answered, determined.

Daryl shrugged his shoulders, hopping over the railing of the porch, followed by Duncan as they started making their way towards their motorcycles, "All right. It's as good a night as any."

"Let's just get this over with." Alejandro said, doubting that this plan will work as he hopped over the railing as well, before starting to walk towards his motorcycle as everyone started descending from the porch and started walking towards their vehicles,

Tyler walked along with DJ, Ezekiel and Noah towads the car which they got at the gas station when he heard someone call out to him, "Hey, Tyler." Andrea was the one who called out to him. He turned around to look at her and saw her standing along with T-Dog next to Otis' blue truck, offering him a smile, "Watch out for yourself out there."

The jock offered his friend a smile in return, "You too."

Duncan was preparing himself to go out and take out as many walkers as he could when Courtney approached him, "Duncan."

He turned away from his motorcycle and looked at her, "Princess?"

"Watch out for yourself." Courtney told him, "We all saw how many of them is heading towards this farm."

"Don't worry about me, princess. If they'll get close to me, I'll just get away from them on my motorcycle." Duncan assured her with a nod of his head.

Courtney smiled at him and Duncan returned the smile. The CIT moved a bit closer to the juvie and embraced him in a hug. They released each other from the hug and Courtney send Duncan one last smile before moving into the porch to join Lori, Beth, Patricia, Carol, Gwen, Owen, Leshawna, Bridgette and Heather who were staying behind in the house.

"I feel like I am watching a dammed romance movie right now." Daryl stated, shaking his head.

"You watch romance movies?" Duncan asked Daryl to mess with him. The younger Dixon stared at the juvie and grunted, shaking his head, making Duncan chuckle a bit.

Chris stood in front of Drake's truck, making sure that he had as many bullets for Glock as he needed right now as Chef approached him, "Ready, pretty boy?"

Chris nodded his head, pulling the safety in his Glock off, "Let's do everything we can."

"That's right." Chef nodded his head in return. They knew that there was a huge possibility that they were going have to flee from the farm, but for now, they were going to try to make sure to that it wasn't going to happen.

Rick and Carl were busy right now pulling the gas from the cans all over the ground in the barn as the walkers were close from breaking the doors at this moment. A few of them already broke a few holes in the walls of the barn, and were reaching out for the sheriff deputy and his son, attempting to grab them, but Rick and Carl didn't had to worry about them grabbing them, at least right now, because these walkers weren't even close to them.

They emptied the gas cans and threw them aside, before turning around to look at the ladder leading to the upper floor of the barn.

"Up there." Rick told his son as they stopped in front of the ladder, "Hurry."

"What about you?" Carl asked in worry for his dad as Rick handed him a lighter.

"I'll be right here. Drop the lighter when I say. We'll stop some of them from reaching the house and distract the others, so at least we'll have a chance." Rick explained his plan to Carl who looked very unsure about it. He placed his hand on his son's shoulder, "Look at me. You can do this. Carl, I love you."

Carl gave him a nod of his head in response as turned towards the ladder as Rick started walking towards the exit from the barn. He looked up to make sure that his son was already on the upper floor before slamming his fist agains the exit a few times to make sure as many walkers as it was possible was going to enter the barn.

He grabbed the metal rod keeping the doors shut and threw it aside. He opened the exit and started to back away as the walkers started making their way towards him in their usual slow way, as the sheriff deputy called out to the to follow him. He quickly turned away from them ran over to the ladder, starting to climb to the upper floor.

He quickly made his way to the upper floor, watching how the walkers were holding their hands in the air, reaching out for him as he looked at his son and send him a nod of his head, signalling him to ignite the lighter. Carl's response to that was instant. He quickly ignited the lighter and threw it down. It landed somewhere between the undead, immediately igniting the fuel that he and his dad poured acroos the barn just a few moments ago. The walkers were quickly engulfed in flames, but they didn't care about that. They simply continued to look up at Rick and Carl, reaching out for them, as Rick and Carl just watched how the undead were burning into crisp.

The convoy of the group members that were going to make sure that the farm wasn't going to be overrun by the undead started driving towards the undead in their vehicles. Daryl and Duncan were on their motorcycles, Chris and Chef were in Drake's truck, DJ, Ezekiel, Noah and Tyler were in the car that they got from the gas station, Andrea and T-Dog were in Otis' blue truck, Maggie, Glenn, Harold and Alejandro were together in a Hyundai and Jimmy, Cody and Sierra were in Dale's RV.

Daryl and Duncan stopped their motorcycles in front of the fence, and pulled out their pistols, as they started to fire them at every walker that caught their attention. Jimmy stopped the RV right next to them and started doing the same along with Sierra and Cody while the others were circling around the fields of the farm, doing everything they could to take out as many walkers as they could.

Glenn, Alejandro and Harold had their shotgun aimeds at the undead on the other side of the fence, as Maggie was driving back and forth around it. All three of them did their best to not waste and rounds of their weapons, but the fact that they were shooting at them from a driving wasn't helping them.

Alejandro shook his head as he missed another shot, "Goddammit."

"Keep it steady!" Glenn told his girlfriend as Harold who sat behind him started reloading his shotgun.

"I'm trying!" Maggie answered, doing her best to keep the Hyundai as steady as she could.

Owen who was waiting inside the house along with everyone else that wasn't fighting off the undead at this moment walked over to the window and took a quick peek that what was happening inside at this moment.

His eyes widened when he saw that the barn burning, "Guys! The barn's on fire!"

Patricia, Beth and Heather came over to him and took a good look at it as well, as the first one stated, "They're headed for it. Maybe Rick set it to draw 'em in."

"I can't find him anywhere." Came's Lori's panicked voice as she descended down the stairs along with Bridgette and Courtney.

Leshawna approached them with Gwen as they went into the attic to check if Carl was there, "Maybe he snuck outside."

"What do I do?!" Lori screamed in panic and worry for her son.

"He was here. He must've run off, maybe looking for Rick or went after Randall himself." Carol assumed.

"Maybe he set the fire." Patricia suggested, as everyone else came over to her, Beth, Heather and Owen to see the burning barn in the distance.

Daryl, and Duncan remained on their motorcycles in front of the fence as they proceeded to fire at the walkers when they noticed how flames were slowly eating the barn. They holstered their pistols and drove over to Jimmy, Sierra and Cody when they noticed that they weren't going to able kill the undead in time as they were nearing the fence. Their suspicions turned out to true when the undead broke through the fence, bringing it down to the ground.

"Hey, guys!" Duncan called out for them as Jimmy, Sierra and Cody turned their attention away from the walkers at them.

"Must've been Rick or Shane who started that fire. Maybe they're trying to get out back!" Daryl explained.

"Go circle around the barn to see if they're somewhere around it!" Duncan added.

"On it!" Jimmy answered to which Cody and Sierra nodded in understanding. He speeded the RV towards the barn, as Cody and Sierra made sure to take out as many walkers as they could from the rolled up windows.

The flames were starting to overcome the entire barn and Rick and Carl knew they couldn't stay there any longer if they didn't want to be burned down along with it. They moved over to the balcony where they had their talk earlier that day and climbed over to the small roof they could stand on and the walkers quickly noticed their presence.

They undead came over to the small roof on which they were standing on and started raising their hands in the air, trying to reach them when they spotted Dale's RV driving to their rescue.

"Hey!" Rick cried out to the people inside of the RV to signal them where they were at this moment, "Get in here!"

Jimmy quickly noticed them and parked the RV in front of the roof as Rick and Carl jumped over from the roof to the top of the vehicle. Jimmy got himself out from the driver seat and his eyes widened in horror when he saw how the doors to the RV were somehow opened by the undead. One of the walkers grabbed his leg, bringing him down to the floor. He screamed in agony as the same walker bit off a piece of flesh from his neck. Sierra and Cody were horrified by his scream as the walkers started coming into the RV, passing by Jimmy who was being torn apart by a group of the undead.

Sierra quickly aimed her pistol at the first walker that entered the RV and fired, getting rid of it, before turning to look at Cody, "Break the window in the back! I'll cover us!"

Cody gave her a quick panicked nod of her head in response and even quicker made his way to the back window of the RV. He slammed the back of his pistol, breaking the window into pieces before making sure that either he or Sierra wouldn't cut themselves while jumping through it. He knew he had to hurry. He quickly moved his hand back and forth, making the pieces of the windows were going to fall on the ground as Sierra took out two walkers that entered the RV.

"It's done, Sierra!" He shouted, before jumping through the hole. Not even a second had to pass until he found himself on the ground, his face facing the dirt.

He almost shrieked before jumping back in fear when a walker from the other side of the fence lunged towards him, but fortunely, the fence was stopping the undead from reaching him. He got himself back on his feet and saw that Sierra was about to jump outside when a walker appeared right over her shoulder. It was about to sunk it's teeth in her neck, but never had a chance to do it, as Cody quickly took it out with a shot to it's head. The corpse of the undead collapsed backwards, allowing Sierra to jump through the hole that just Cody made before more of the walkers had a chance to bite into her neck.

She breathed in a relieved sigh after landing on the ground. She quickly got herself back on her feet, sending him a grateful smile, "Thanks, Cody."

"You're the one who was keeping me safe since this begun." Cody took a deep breath, "I just returned the favor."

It was when they heard someone land next to them as this person jumped from the roof of the RV. This person was Rick who helped his son to climb down.

He turned to look at them, "What are you doing here? Why are you not in the RV?""

"We had to leave." Sierra explained, pointing at the three walkers that were reaching out for them through the hole in the window that Cody did just a few seconds ago, "They got into the RV. We barely escaped."

Rick heard how the walkers were feasting on Jimmy's lifeless body inside of the RV and nodded his head, now understanding why they had to flee he vehicle, "Let's find other way out."

He moved forward and Carl, Sierra and Cody were quick to follow him. They quickly pushed themselves into run and ran as if their lifes were at stake, because they were. The sheriff deputy directed them to head into the woods and they didn't waste any time and followed him into the woods as fast as they could, passing by several walkers who started to follow them.

Chris shook his head, realizing that their plan wasn't going to work as the undead were getting closer and closer to the house while he continued to drive the truck back and forth across the fields of the farm. He and Chef didn't had to worry about their vehicle getting overrun by the undead because their large truck was able to run over every walker on it's way.

"This is pointless." He stated, "We're gonna to ran out of ammo before we ever get close to killing half of them off."

Chef shook his head, realizing that as well, as he took out one walker with a round from his shotgun, "You're telling me, pretty boy."

Hershel and Izzy stood together in front of the farm house. The farmer and the orange haired teenager fired everything they had into the walkers heading towards the house, but unfortunely, not matter how many undead they took down, more of them appeared in their sight, and worst of all, they were getting closer to the house. Izzy knew that it was just a matter of time before they'd have to flee from this place.

Lori came out from the house along with Carol and Courtney and went over to the porch, "I checked the shed. I can't find him anywhere."

"Not in the cellar or the attic." Carol said.

"Why can't he listen for once?" Lori shook her head, pointing in the direction of the forest, "Okay okay, if he followed his daddy, he went that way."

Courtney shook her head, knowing how Lori's plan was going to end, "No, you'll lead 'em right to him."

Lori looked at the CIT, "That's my boy!"

"Lori, if we find him, he's gonna need his mother." Courtney pointed out.

"Lori. She's right." Carol agreed with Courtney, "We've gotta go."

"Get the others!" Lori told Carol after a few seconds of staying silent as Carol did as she told to and went back into the house to inform everyone that they were leaving. She and Courtney turned in the direction of the herd heading towards the house. The CIT started firing at them as Lori cried out for her missing son, "Carl!"

"Guys." They heard Carol's voice sound in the house, "Come on, we gotta go."

Courtney reloaded her pistol after it ran out of the ammo in it's clip as Lori fired a few bullets from her own pistol as Bridgette's voice sounded behind them, "Lori, Courtney."

Lori and Courtney turned back and saw Carol, Gwen, Leshawna, Bridgette, Patricia, Beth, Heather and Owen all standing outside. They all were ready to leave, they were just waiting for them to give them a signal to run. Courtney went over to them as Lori turned away from to look at Hershel and Izzy, intending to tell that it was time to leave.

"Hershel! Izzy!" She yelled out to the two people standing in front of the house. Hershel didn't respond to her call and proceeded to fire at the undead as Izzy stopped firing and turned to look at her, "It's time to go!"

Izzy looked at the farmer who simply told her, while still firing at the undead, "Go!"

Although she was a bit hesitant about leaving the eldery farmer all by himself, Izzy turned away from him and broke herself into run towards the house. Everyone ran down the steps of the porch and joined her on the ground, running away towards the woods because it was the only place where they could hide away from the undead right now.

Bridgette, Carol, Leshawna, Heather and Courtney were dangerously splitting up from the fleeing group as they ran in front in front of Lori, Owen, Gwen, Izzy, Patricia and Beth. They had to be quick because the walkers were starting to surround them. If they didn't left anytime soon, then they would surely be torn apart by the undead.

Patricia and Beth held each other hands so they wouldn't split up as they ran to safety. Owen and Izzy were running close to them, with the latter leading the group of four. Out of the sudden, the walkers came seemingly out of nowhere and one of them dug it's teeth in Patricia's neck, causing her to let out an agonizing scream of pain. Unfortunely someone was just as fortunate as her. Owen screamed in pain as the blond haired teenager could feel the undead bitting off a piece of flesh from his neck. He and Patricia gurgled and suffocated their own blood.

Beth and Izzy screamed as tears spilled down their cheeks as Patricia and Owen were practically ripped into shreds before their eyes. Lori and Gwen came over to them and lugged them away from Patricia and Owen. They started leading them towards blue truck with Andrea and T-Dog waiting for them inside.

Andrea opened the door, getting herself out of it as Lori pushed Beth into the vehicle, "Get in!"

"Get Carol and Bridgette!" Gwen shouted, pushing shaken Izzy into the car, before entering it herself, "They went that way!"

Andrea nodded her head to that and quickly went in the way that Gwen told her to go. It didn't took her that long to see defensless Carol and Bridgette running away from the undead. They stopped in front of the shed and turned back to see a few walkers coming their way. Bridgette eyed her surroundings in panic, looking for anything that she and Carol could use as a weapon against the undead.

She spotted two boards laying nearby. She picked them up and handed one to Carol, both of them holding them in ready, knowing that it wasn't the best weapon against the walkers, but it was their only option to defend themselves right now.

It was when they heard someone fire their pistol. The walkers that were coming towards them just a few second ago started dropping like flies and when the last one collapsed down, they saw who their savior was. It was Andrea who lowered her pistol and send them a nod. Their relief was short lived because they quickly spotted a walker right behind Andrea, who was completely unaware about it's presence.

"Look out/ Behind you!" Carol and Bridgette cried out at the same time to warn Andrea who turned back to see a walker showing off it's rotting teeth to her. She shot the walker right in it's head and it's corpse fell on top of her, bringing her down to the ground.

T-Dog, Lori, Gwen, Izzy and Beth who were waiting for her in the truck saw it all happen and instantly assumed the worst. They were practically squished in the truck but they didn't care about that.

"They got her!" Gwen exclaimed.

"We gotta go!" Lori shouted shorty after. "Dog, c'mon!"

T-Dog quickly moved the wheel around, and started driving into the forest into safety, all of them unaware of the fact that Andrea was still alive.

She was about to get the corpse of the undead off herself, but someone else did that for her. The corpse was threw aside, landing next to the blond haired woman who looked up and saw Courtney who send her an assuring nod. The CIT turned around them and fired her pistol two times, taking out two of the many walkers heading their way while Andrea got herself back on her feet.

DJ waited for Leshawna or Heather or Courtney to approach their car after watching how T-Dog, Lori, Beth, Gwen and Izzy started driving away from the farm, knowing it was just a matter of time before they'd have to leave as well. He didn't want to leave anyone behind but he knew that he'd have to do it, when the walkers will start surround the car he was in with Noah, Ezekiel and Tyler.

Leshawna couldn't remember the last time when she ran that fast. Her mind was still going back to the view of the walkers tearing Patricia and Owen apart. It was the last thing she saw before she got separated from the others, but she couldn't let it this image stick in her head, especially in this situation. A walker lunged itself towards her, as she jumped backwards in panic, afraid that it was going to get her, hearing how someone was firing their pistol somewhere away from her.

The walker almost fell off it's feet as Leshawa used this ocassion and ran past it, as the undead attempted to grab her by her shoulder, but fortunely for her failed to do so. A spark of hope appeared in her mind when she saw a car with DJ, Ezekiel, Noah and Tyler ahead of her, probably waiting for someone to ran over to them. She increased her speed and made her way to the car, making sure to avoid as many walkers as she could, not letting them surround her, because she knew it would be a death sentence for her.

She finally made it to the car and didn't waste any second. She rapidly poked her hand on the window of the seat where Noah sat a few times. It earned the attention of the bookworm who quickly opened the door, allowing her to enter the car.

She breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that she was safe. Those things weren't going to get her. She send Noah a grateful nod, "Thank you, sugar."

"Is someone else with you?" Noah asked her, trying not to think about the fact that he had seen only a few moment ago how Owen was torn apart by the undead.

Leshawna shook her head, "I lost the others right after we left the house. Those things, they got Owen and Patricia..."

"We know." DJ sighed sadly, "We saw."

"Guys!" Ezekiel declared, pointing at one spot from his seat in the front, "There's Heather!"

Tyler turned in the direction that Ezekiel was pointing at as quick as the others did. He saw Heather who was slowly being surrounded by a huge group of walkers who had only one intention of tearing her apart as she was desperately trying to find a way out. She couldn't use her pistol because she already ran out of the ammo in it. The imagines of Lindsay dying with a hole in her stomach, Amy bleeding out in Andrea's arms, and Daryl having to end Dale's suffering after the undead tore a massive hole in his stomach appeared in Tyler's mind.

He knew what he had to do next.

He had to save her.

He remembered what he had promised himself. He couldn't let more people die by the hands of these monsters. Even if it was Heather.

"Stay here for one more moment, DJ! We'll be back as soon as we can!" He shouted to DJ, throwing his pistol aside, before running out of the car, wielding his baseball bat as his only weapon.

Heather shoved herself backwards as one walker almost dug it's teeth in her shoulder, almost collapsing on the ground. The same walker moved towards her, showing it's rotting teeth to her, but the undead never had a chance to get to her as someone smashed it in the head. It collapsed on the ground, with a hole in it's head, revealing to her who saved her from it. It was Tyler.

"Get out of here!" He told her, "I'll be right behind you!"

He gave her one nod as Heather gave him a grateful look in response. Tyler couldn't believe it. She was actually showing someone that was grateful for them. She pushed herself into run towards the car and quickly opened the doors leading to the passengers seat in the back. She hopped into the car, sitting down next to Leshawna and behind Ezekiel.

"Wait a second." The homeschool said, "Where's Tyler, eh?"

"He was supposed to be right behind me." Heather answered.

Everyone in the car turned to look at Tyler and saw how the group of the undead was slowly surroundings him, leaving him with no way out of this situation, but he didn't seem to care. He smashed one walker after another.

"We need to help him!" DJ cried out in worry, despise Tyler acting the way he did towards him during the barn situation, the jock was still his friend, and they couldn't leave him behind.

"I'll be fine!" Tyler shouted, turning his gaze to the car with Noah, Ezekiel, DJ, Leshawna and Heather. It was when he lowered his guard and the undead used this moment to sunk it's teeth in his shoulder, bitting off a piece of flesh. Tyler grunted in pain and pushed the walker away from him before shouting, "Just go!"

Although he was hesitant at first, not wanting to leave Tyler behind among the walkers, DJ moved the wheel and drove off into the forest, away from the walkers, away from wounded and infected Tyler who continued to fight them off with his baseball bat.

" **This is for Lindsay!** " He shouted, crushing the head of the approaching walker as more and more of them began to approach him. He was already filled with enough rage after the undead ganged up on Patricia and Owen tore them apart. He was already filled with enough rage when one of them killed Lindsay. He was already in enough of rage when they killed so many good people. The rage that's been building inside of him since that night when they attacked their camp in Atlanta. The rage that's been only growing bigger and stronger as more people around him died because of them.

He crushed the skull of another approaching walker and shouted, " **For Owen! For Jim! For Sophia! For Amy! For Patricia! For Dale!** "

One walker used the opportunity that Tyler was taking care of the one on his left right now and bit into his right arm. The jock groaned in pain as he used his other fist to punch the walker straight in it's face, sending it away from his arm for a second. Another walker came just a second later and bit into neck. Tyler gritted his teeth in pain, attempting to push the walker away from him, but failed. He dropped his baseball bat on the ground, before falling on his knees. The walker ripped off a piece of skin from Tyler's neck as it was joined by more of undead as the jock closed his eyes, ignoring the pain that he felt right now in the area of his neck, readying himself for his inevitable death.

Each one of the undead took different part of Tyler's body as they feasted upon his flesh. It was just a matter of seconds before the red clothed teenager didn't feel anything anymore. He was gone.

"Where are they going?" Maggie asked, seeing in the car's mirror how DJ, Ezekiel, Noah, Heather and Leshawna were driving away from the farm, "Should I follow them?"

Glenn, Alejandro and Harold looked in the direction of the car with DJ, Ezekiel, Noah, Heather and Leshawna departing from farm, the asian man nodding his head instantly after spotting them, "I'd say yes."

"It's our best option right now." Harold nodded in agreement.

"Swing it around.." Alejandro told her, "Swing it around here."

Maggie swung the car around in the direction of the members from the group that already left the farm and all of the people inside of Hyundai were greeted by the view of a lot of walkers standing in their view. The undead slammed their faces and fists against the windows as Maggie tried to drive through them but she couldn't. They was simply too many of them to drive through.

"Oh my god." She said in fear, "I can't get through."

Glenn knew what they had to do next, "Head out."

"What?" Maggie asked, turning to look at him, her eyes watering up.

"Get off the farm now!" Glenn repeated himself.

"Don't say that!" Maggie told him.

"Senorita, listen to him!" Alejandro shouted, agreeing with Glenn, "This place is lost! We have to get outta here!"

"It pains me as much as you do to leave the others but Glenn is right, we need leave now!" Harold added, "We'll find the others, I promise!"

Maggie sniffed as she backed away from the the horde, causing the undead surrounding her, Glenn, Harold and Alejandro to scatter. She used this occasion to drive through a few of them, beginning to drive out of the farm into safety as the walkers roared, starting to chase them.

Chef and Chris saw it all from their truck. The two hosts of Total Drama watched how everyone started fleeing from the farm. They knew what they had to next without even saying a word to each other. They started driving away from the farm into the woods, hoping that they'll met up with the others as fast as it was possible.

Hershel started backing away from the walkers who were only a few meters away from him at this point. He continued to fire his shotgun at them until it ran out of the ammo. He stopped and started to reload it, unaware that there was one walker behind him right now. He finished reloading his shotgun and fired one round at the approaching herd, as the walker behind him was about to sunk it's into in his shoulder.

It never even got a chance to do it because a shot rang behind Hershel as fired their gun and the walker collapsed on the ground, dead with a hole in it's head. Hershel turned back to see who it was and saw Rick, Carl, Sierra and Cody.

"Where's Lori?" The sheriff deputy asked him, "Did you see Lori?"

"I don't know what happened, Rick. They just keep coming." Hershel told him, "It's like a plague. They're everywhere."

"Lori! Did you see her?" Rick repeated his question.

Hershel shook his head, "No."

"We have to go. Find mom and the others." Rick declared, firing his Python once, getting rid of one walker. He grabbed Hershel's shoulder and started dragging him towards the nearest vehicle.

"It's my farm!" Hershel shouted, as he was being dragged towards a vehicle by Rick.

"Not anymore!" Rick told Hershel, letting go off his shoulder, "Come on!"

He quickly went over to the driver seat of the car and got himself into it as his son took the passenger seat next to him. Hershel slammed one walker with the back of his shotgun as he went over to Sierra and Cody who were waiting for him in front of the doors leading to the passengers seat in the back. They hopped into those seats, and Hershel was quick to follow and sat down next to Cody.

Rick started up the car and started drving away from the farm into safety with Carl, Cody, Sierra and Hershel, unaware that there two from his group running towards them, wanting to get away from this place as well.

"Guys!" Andrea shouted, waving her hands, hoping that Rick, Sierra, Cody, Carl and Hershel will notice her and Courtney.

"Wait for us!" Courtney added, waving her hands as well, but much to her and Andrea's horror, they weren't spotted by them.

Courtney and Andrea could only watch in horror how Rick, Sierra, Cody, Carl and Hershel drove off into safety, while being completely unaware that they were leaving two members of their group behind. They backed down a bit, taking out a few approaching walkers as Andrea's eyes caught the sight of the gun bag laying on the ground. She made sure to pick it up as she and the CIT proceeded to desperately search for a way how to escape from this farm as the walkers followed them.

Daryl and Duncan were watching how the flames were eating the barn and Dale's RV from the distance when they heard two familiar voices screaming for help. They quickly started up their motorcycles again and drove them in the directions of the screams and saw Carol and Bridgette. The two of them were making their away from the group of walkers that was chasing them.

The juvie and the redneck stopped their motorcycles in front of the fence, the latter yelling out, "C'mon, we ain't got all day!"

"C'mon, surfer girl!" Duncan shouted shorty after as Bridgette hopped onto the back of his motorcycle.

"Let's go!" Carol shouted to Daryl, now sitting behind the redneck.

The redneck and the juvie didn't waste time. They started up their motorcycles once again and started driving away from the undead along with Bridgette and Carol, leaving the farm as fast as it was possible.

Hershel turned towards the back window of the vehicle and watched how the farm that was owned by his family for years was slowly disappearing from his sight as the undead continued to infest it's entire area.

The last sight he had of his farm, before turning away from it, were the burning remains of the barn collapsing down.

* * *

DJ continued to drive through the forested road of the forest. He knew where he should head right now. The highway was his current destination. He hoped that the other people from his group that made it out from the farm alive would be there. He eyed the other people traveling with him at this moment. Leshawna, Noah and Ezekiel were silent for most of the trip, occasionaly trading a word with each other. They were still doing better than Heather. She didn't spoke a word since they left the farm. DJ honestly never excepted to see her like that.

Leshawna send Heather a worried glance. She and Heather were never fan of each other and everyone knew that pretty well. They tried being friends once when Heather stuck up for for Leshawna after the latter was caught on something terrible, but it didn't really last long.

"Heather, are you alright, girl?" She finally asked her,

"Tyler." Heather spoke up for the first time since they left the farm as she turned to look at Leshawna, "He's dead because of me." Leshawna, DJ, Noah, and Ezekiel were taken aback by how guilty she sounded, "I was such a bitch to him, I threw a fucking conoe on him once and he still went over to save me from those things without seconds thoughts."

"Don't blame yourself for that, Heather." DJ told her. Harold told him about the real reason why Tyler acted the way he did since CDC. He was aware that the jock was doing what he thought was needed to save more from sharing Lindsay's fate, "Harold told me that Tyler acted the way he did because he didn't want more people to die like Lindsay did. To be honest I don't think if he would care if was you or me or Leshawna or Noah or Ezekiel in that situation. He would still do what he did."

"Listen to DJ, because he's right." Leshawna agreed with DJ, "You and I, we may have never been close friends or even friends, but you can't blame yourself for what happened. This wasn't your fault. They were surrounding you and he did what he thought was right."

Heather remained silent and just gave them a nod of her head in response to Leshawna's and DJ's words. She was going to make that Tyler's sacrifice wasn't going to go in vain. She was going to make sure of that.

Leshawna send Heather a small comforting smile, before turning away from her to look at Noah, "Noah?"

"What?" Noah asked her.

"I'm sorry." She told him, "About Owen."

Noah sighed sadly, "There was nothing we could do to help him."

"When are we going to reach the highway, eh?" Ezekiel asked DJ.

"Soon." DJ answered, "Hopefully."

"You think the others are going to there?" Leshawna wanted to know.

DJ sighed, "I hope so."

* * *

Rick, Hershel, Sierra, Cody and Carl had just arrived on the highway. Rick parked his vehicle between the abandoned cars, before everyone got out of the car. Carl was the first one to leave the vehicle. He looked around, trying to spot if his mother was anywhere, but she was nowhere to be seen.

He turned to look at his dad, "Where's mom? You said she'd be here. W e gotta go back for her."

Rick approached him, trying to say something to him, "Carl..."

His son cut him off, raising his voice, "No. Why are we running? What are you doing? It's mom. We need to get her and not be safe a mile away."

"You need to be quiet, all right?" Rick told his son, in a quieter tone, placing his hand on his shoulder, "Please."

"Please." Carl shook his head, "It's mom."

He stormed away as Rick sighed, watching his son walk away from him, 'Look, Carl..."

"What are we going to do now?" Sierra asked.

"You've got to get this boy to safety." Hershel answered.

Cody raised his brow, "What are you talking about?"

"I'll wait here for my girls and the others. I know a few places. We'll meet up at one of them later." Hershel explained.

"Where? Where is safe? " Rick wanted to know. He shook his head, "We're not splitting up."

"Please, keep this boy safe." Hershel insisted, "I'll hide in one of the cars. If a walker gets me, so be it. I've lost my farm. I've lost my wife and maybe my daughters."

"We're not leaving you behind, and there's no way that we're leaving you here to die." Sierra told him, "If you really want to split up then let me and Cody stay with you."

Cody nodded his head in agreement as Rick shook his head, "I already said that we're not splitting up. They'll be here."

"And you don't know that." Hershel pointed out, shifting his gaze between Rick, Sierra and Cody, "None of you do."

"You're a man of god." Rick told him, "Have some faith."

"I can't profess to understand god's plan, but christ promised the resurrection of the dead." Hershel responded, "I just thought he had something a little different in mind."

"We stick together." Rick told Hershel, before walking away from the farmer, and the two teenagers to talk with his son.

* * *

Rick, Hershel, Cody, Sierra and Carl were waiting for quite some time for someone from their group to arrive on the highway but they were nowhere to be seen so far. Something else arrived on the highway. Rick heard a walker growling and turned in the direction of this sound and saw a single walker walking between the cars.

He made a motion with his hand to Hershel, Carl, Cody and Sierra, telling them that there was a walker on the highway without saying words. They hid behind the vehicle, deciding not to kill it because they didn't want to lead more of them towards the highway.

Sierra sighed in relief, "It's just one."

"We don't know how many of them may be heading here right now." Hershel whispered to Sierra who sighed and gave him nod of his head in response, knowing that the farmer was right, "I don't know how much longer we can stay here."

"I'm not leaving without mom." Carl instantly told his dad after hearing Hershel's words.

"So we're just gonna walk away?" Rick asked Hershel, "Not knowing if my wife, Cody's and Sierra's friends, your girls are still out there? How do we live with that?"

"You've only got one concern now-just one-keeping him alive." Hershel answered, glancing down at Carl, "Nature may be throwing us a curveball, but that law is still true."

Rick bits his lips and sighed before kneeling down in front of Carl, "Carl. It's not safe here. I'm sorry. We'll..."

"Guys." Cody shushed them and raised his index finger in the air, "Listen."

Everyone did as he told them to and listened to their surroudings, hearing someone driving along the highway. They turned in the direction of the sound and saw a huge truck driving in the middle of the convoy consisting of two motorcycles, one Hyudani, one blue truck, and one other car. Their group had just arrived. Rick turned to look at Hershel to see him smilling, and then to Cody and Sierra who looked at each other and smiled.

The entire convoy stopped and everyone started getting out of their vehicles. Cody pushed himself into run and made his way over to Gwen, sharing a quick hug with her. Sierra followed him. After sharing a hug with Cody, the goth girl smiled at the super fan and hugged her too, simply happy that both of them made it out alive. Rick slapped hands with Daryl before turning to look at Chef and Chris. He nodded his head at them and the two hosts of Total Drama nodded back.

Lori got out of the car, passing by Gwen, Sierra and Cody and ran over to her husband and son, yelling out a happy, "Oh my god!"

The reunited family embraced themselves in a tight hug as Duncan went over to DJ and the duo shared a quick high-five. DJ then looked at Hershel and smiled at the view of the eldery farmer embracing his daughters. Noah walked over to Glenn and offered him a nod of his head and a quick smile to which the asian man smiled back.

Leshawna smiled as she walked over to Harold, giving him an embrace, "It's great to see that you made it out of there, sugar baby!'

"You too." Harold smiled back, returning her hug.

They released each other from the hug and went to greet other people from their group. Harold exchanged a look with Duncan who send him a nod, and the nerd nodded back as Leshawna went over to Gwen, Sierra, Cody who were currently having a conversation with Bridgette. T-Dog went over to Alejandro and slapped his back to which Alejandro nodded his head at him before spotting saddened Heather who was staying in the background.

Rick turned to look at Daryl, "Where'd you find everyone?"

"Well, those guys' tail lights zigzagging all over the road-figured he had to be Asian, driving like that." Daryl explained.

Glenn laughed, "Good one."

"Where's the rest of us?" Bridgette asked.

Rick looked at the surfer, sadly, "We're the only ones who made it so far."

"Shane?" Lori asked her husband.

Rick simply shook his head in response. It was the only answer the group needed.

"Patricia?" Hershel asked.

"They got her too, took her right in front of me. I was holdin' onto her daddy." Beth sobbed, looking up at her father who rubbed her shoulder comfortingly, "What about Jimmy? Did you see Jimmy?"

"The RV got overrun." Cody answered, making Beth cry even more as he placed her head on her fathers shoulder, "There was nothing we could do."

"I and Cody barely managed to escape the RV." Sierra added.

"Owen?" Chris asked, after taking a good look around who didn't came back from the farm.

Izzy's voice was so shaky when she responded, the people that knew her from Total Drama didn't except that she could sound like that, "They got him along with Patricia after we ran out of the house. One second he was right behind me and when I turned to look at him, they were all over him."

Just one day ago she was assuring Owen that they'll get through everything that will be thrown against them together, especially now that they had a place they could call home, but now he was gone and so was their new home. The jolly giant who got along with everyone, the winner of the first season of Total Drama was gone. Torn into shreds in front of his girlfriend.

Noah's gaze went to the ground, unfortunely having a chance to see how the walker tore Owen apart. He felt someone place a hand on his shoulder. He turned to look at that person and saw Glenn who gave him a sad comforing smile.

Chef noticed that a certain jock was missing as well, "Tyler?"

DJ sighed sadly, glancing down, "We saw how they got him."

"He saved me." Heather added, her gaze on the ground, "Those things would get me if he didn't went out to get me."

Glenn then asked, "Andrea?"

"We saw her go down." T-Dog answered.

"Courtney?" Duncan asked, sounding worried for the CIT as she was nowhere to be seen among the surviving members of the group.

His question went without an answer, because none of the members of group saw what happened to the CIT.

"You definitely saw Andrea?" Carol asked, "What about Courtney? She could have ran into the woods."

"There were walkers everywhere." Lori pointed out.

"Did you see them?" Carol repeated her question.

"I'm going back." Daryl said, moving over to his motorcycle.

Duncan nodded his head to that. Courtney was still out there, he had to get her, "Right behind you."

"No." Rick told them.

"We can't just leave them." Daryl pointed out to which Duncan nodded in agreement.

"We don't even know if they're there." Lori stated.

"They're aren't isn't there. They aren't. " Rick shook his head, "They're somewhere else or they're dead. There's no way to find them."

"So we're not even gonna look for her?" DJ asked him.

"We gotta keep moving. There have been walkers crawling all over here." Rick declared in response.

"I say head east." T-Dog suggested.

"Stay off the main roads. The bigger the road,the more walkers, more asshole like this one." Daryl said as he picked up his crossbow. He loaded an arrow into it and fired it at the lone walker walking towards them, "I got him."

The arrow hit the walker right into it's head, taking it out immediately as it lifeless body collapsed on the ground. Rick told everyone to get into their vehicles as everone did what he told them to. They all got into their vehicles, forming a convoy of two motorcycles and four cars and one truck and drove off along the road, away from the highway.

* * *

Rick beeped the horn in his car, stopping the entire convoy after driving for what felt like forever. Everyone got out from their vehicles and started gathering around on the road.

Daryl looked at Rick, "You out?"

"Running on fumes." Rick explained.

"Same here." Alejandro said, coming out of the blue truck along with T-Dog and Heather.

"We'll have to make a run for some gas in the morning." Rick stated.

"Spend the night here?" Carol asked.

"We can go looking for a place where we can stay for the night." Chef suggested, "They can be one around here."

"I'm freezing." Carl said.

Lori rubbed her son chest, "We'll build a fire, yeah?"

"I and Daryl can gather some firewood." Duncan offered to which Daryl nodded, "Only got so many arrows. How you doing on ammo?"

Rick shook his head, "Not enough."

"We can't just sit here with our asses hanging out." Maggie stated.

"Watch your mouth." Hershel warned her, "Everyone stop panicking and listen to Rick."

"All right, we'll set up a perimeter. In the morning,we'll find gas and some supplies. We'll keep pushing on." Rick declared.

"I can take two or three people and make a run now." Harold offered, holding his shotgun in ready.

Ezekiel raised his hand, "I can be one of these two or three people."

Rick shook his head at the idea, "No, we stay together. God forbid something happens and people get stranded without a car."

"We're stranded now." Noah pointed out.

"I know it looks bad,we've all been through hell and worse,but at least we found each other." Rick began, his eyes on his group, "I wasn't sure-I really wasn't-but we did. We're together. We keep it that way. We'll find shelter somewhere. There's gotta be a place."

"Rick, look around. Okay? There's walkers everywhere. They're migrating or something." Glenn told him.

He didn't had to wait long for Rick to answer, "Just like Chef said, there's gotta be a place not just where we hole up, but that we fortify, hunker down, pull ourselves together,build a life for each other. I know it's out there. We just have to find it."

"Even if we do find a place and we think it's safe,we can never be sure. For how long? Look what happened with the farm. We fooled ourselves into thinking that that was safe." Izzy paused for a moment, debating with hershelf if she should bring it up or now. She sighed, deciding to say it, "I was only telling Owen that we were safe at the farm, and we all know what happened to him a few hours later."

"We won't make that mistake again." Hershel told her.

"We'll make camp tonight over there." Rick pointed at the nearby ruins, "Get on the road at the break of day."

"What if walkers come through,or another group like Randall's?" Bridgette asked.

"Speaking of Randall." Chef said, as everyone looked at him, "As you know, we found him. He had turned, but he wasn't bit."

Chris looked at his fellow host, confused, "How's that possible?"

"I don't know." Chef shook his head.

"Rick, what the hell happened?" Lori demanded.

"Shane killed Randall." Chef explained.

"Just like he always wanted to." Daryl added.

"And then the herd got him?" Gwen assumed.

"No." Duncan shook his head at her question, "We checked his body, there wasn't a single sight that one got him."

"It isn't the first time when we saw something like that." Harold added as Duncan nodded his head, confirming the nerd's words.

Leshawna looked at him, "What do you mean?"

"It was when I, Duncan, Rick, Shane and Tyler went to get Randall as far away from the farm as we could." Harold began, "I and Duncan came across a walker that didn't had any bites or scratches on it's body."

The words of Doctor Edwin Jenner appeared again in Rick's head. He knew that the moment where he'd have to tell that to his group was going to come sooner or later, and this was it. He sighed, bracing himself for the reaction he was going to get from everyone in his group, "We're all infected."

Just like he excepted, the entire group stared at him in shock and complete silence, which was broken by Cody, "What are you talking about?"

"At the CDC, Jenner told me. Whatever it is,we all carry it." Rick explained.

"Are you trying to say all of you are going to turn into walkers?" DJ asked, wanting to be sure if he didn't misheard it, "No matter how we die?"

Rick nodded his head in confirmation, "Yes."

"And you never said anything?" Carol asked him, angry with Rick's decision to keep it a secret

"Would it have made a difference?" Rick asked her in return.

"You knew this whole time?" Noah wanted to know, looking as angered by Rick's decision as Carol.

"How could I have known for sure? You saw how crazy that mo..." Rick tried to say but someone interrupted him.

Glenn cut him off, angrily, "That isn't your call. Okay, when I found out about the walkers in the barn, I told, for the good of everyone."

"Well, I thought it best that people didn't know." Rick told him.

He turned away from his group and started walking away from them as everyone just watched him go, before Lori stepped forward and started to follow her husband.

Gwen sighed, her mind still trying to process this information, "It all makes sense now."

"What makes sense?" Leshawna asked her friend.

"Now I understand why everything fell apart so quickly." The goth explained, "Why it spread so fast, and why the cities fell so quickly."

Rick stopped on the side on the road, away from his group and just watched the trees in front of him in complete silence when he heard his wife approach him from behind.

She wrapped his hands around him, placing a quick kiss on his shoulder, "I'm sure you had your reasons. Is there anything that..."

"I killed him." Rick interrupted her, causing his wife to let go off him in shock, "I killed Shane. He came at me. He killed Randall to get me into the woods. He planned it. I had no choice. I gave him every chance and he kept leading me further out. He pushed me, and I let him. And after awhile, I knew what he was doing, what he was up to. And I kept going. I didn't stop. I could have,but...I just wanted it over. Dogging me every step of the way. Acting like I stole you and Carl, like I was in the way. I just wanted it over. I wanted him dead..."

He paused for a second as Lori stood behind him in complete silence, not really knowing how to reply to his words. She could feel tears slowly coming into her eyes, but she could hold them, for now.

"He turned. That's how I knew Jenner was right." Her husband sighed, "Carl put him down."

Lori's eyes widened as she couldn't keep her tears for any longer and started crying. Her knees almost gave in as Rick turned to look at his wife. He reached his hand out to ger to grab her, but she backed away from him and started walking away from her husband.

* * *

Chris stared at the ruins in front of him, leaning against his truck. His mind was still going back to what happened on the farm and the people they had lost while fleeing from it. His thoughts were mostly about Owen, Tyler and Courtney. He still couldn't believe that they along with Lindsay were gone. He couldn't believe that they were dead.

He was aware that the people who watched his show would have hard time believing in it, but he cared about those kids, despise all of the things that he did to them on the set and learning the information that some of them didn't make it out of the farm was hard for him as much as for everyone else in the group.

The other thing that was on his mind was the revelation from Rick that they were all infected, and were going to turn into a walker no matter how they die. He didn't know what to think about Rick's decision. Keeping something like that away from them was not the thing to do, but on the other side, considering everything that had happened after the CDC, he could understand why Rick did what he did.

When his thoughts went back to Tyler, Lindsay, Owen and Courtney, a memory of a talk he had with them and the other constestants back when they were staying in their camp in Atlanta appeared his mind.

_Flashback_

_It was another night in the camp that was formed by a group of people nearby Atlanta. A little over a week has passed since the bombing of the that city. Everyone related to Total Drama was gathered around a bonfire started by Chef._ _Owen sat on the ground, with Izzy sitting on his right and Noah sitting on his left. Tyler and Lindsay were by each other side, the latter resting her head against the jock's shoulder. Courtney sat next to Duncan, her slowly healing after their little accident in the forest._

_DJ looked up at Bridgette who approached them and sat down next to him, "Hey, Bridge. How did it go?"_

_Bridgette sighed, shaking her head, "Still nothing. I can't contact none of them."_

_"Do you think they're safe?" Tyler asked._

_"I hope so, Tyler." Bridgette nodded her head, "Maybe they found some shelter in a city similiar to Atlanta."_

_"As long as it wasn't bombed like Atlanta." Alejandro pointed out._

_Bridgette nodded her head to that, 'Yeah."_

_"I hope they did found a safe place for them." Chris said, making everyone look at him, "I'm worried about them."_

_Duncan laughed, not believing in it, "You? Worried about us?"_

_"Worried about someone other than you?" Noah asked, having hard time believing in it just as much as any other contestants had._

_"Yes." Chris nodded his head in confirmation, "I know that this may sound weird to you, but I am worried about them."_

_"Now that you're bringing this up, you know what has been on my mind for a while now?" Gwen asked Chris as he looked at her, "It's the way how you acted for the last week since they bombed Atlanta. You weren't the sadistic host we all knew from the two seasons of Total Drama anymore."_

_"I'm worried about Geoff, Trent, Eva, Katie, Sadie, Justin and Beth because I care about them. I care about every single one of you." Chris answered. All of the Total Drama contestants had their eyes on him while Chef remained silent, letting his fellow host speak, "If it wasn't for every single one of you I wouldn't have the life had before all of this happened. I actually have the photo I took of you on the very first day of the first season in my house on the cupboard where I put the photos of the people that are important to me. The only reason why I was sadistic and cruel towards you was for the ratings and views."_

_"What you're trying to tell us is that you're not as sadistic and psychotic,_ _even after all of the things you did to us?" Heather asked him._

_Chris gave her a bittersweet chuckle, "Heather. Some of you did some things on this that many people would consider questionable as well, and you're one of them."_

_Heather opened her mouth to answer to Chris' words, but quickly closed it._

_"And Bridgette." Chris said as the said blonde titled her head, "Geoff started acting the way I did when he noticed that it gives better ratings and more views."_

_Bridgette only sighed in response, understanding Chris' point as the host continued, "I know that most of probably still hate me for all the things I did to you on the set, even after all of the things that happened for the last few months, and I can't blame for you for it, but I hope that you'll understand that I can be someone different than Chris that you all know from Total Drama."_

"Hey, pretty boy." The host of Total Drama shook his head, taking his mind off his thoughts when he heard Chef approach and speak up to him, "How are you doing?"

Chris sighed, "I'm just thinking about everything that had happened last day."

"There was nothing we could do to save them, Chris" Chef said, placing his hand on Chris' shoulder to comfort his fellow host, "I too wish that there was something we could do to help Owen, Tyler and Courtney, but as I already said, there was nothing we could do to help them."

"I know. It's just weird to think about that we lost more people than just Lindsay. A few months ago we were all on our way to that plane, and now, four of us are dead." Chris nodded his head sadly with sigh, as Chef leaned against the truck, next to him, "What do you think about what Rick did? Not telling us about what Jenner told him back in the CDC?"

"I think he did the right thing, even though it may be a bit questionable." Chef answered, "So many things happened after we left CDC, like Sophia going missing or this entire situation with Randall and this would only make things worse. I'm sure that he'd tell us if things calmed down."

"I think the same." Chris nodded his head, finally making his mind about Rick's decision to keep that fact as a secret from them.

"He is a good leader. He knows how to keep this group safe." Chef stated, "He can count on my support in his decisions."

Chris nodded his head once again, and looked around the road, "It seems like we're back on the road."

"Yeah." Chef agreed, "That is why I came here to you. I have something that I want to give to you."

The co-host of Total Drama pulled out a rifle and held it out to Chris who took it from him. The host of the same show eyed the rifle, "Looks familiar."

"It was Dale's." Chef answered. He and Chris paused for a moment to exchange a saddened look at the mention of Dale, "I thought that you are going to need one more gun, instead of having Glock as your only gun, and I decided to give you a rifle with a scope, because you became a good shot."

Chris eyed Dale's rifle which now belonged to him for one more second before giving his fellow host a nod, "Thanks, Chef. I'll make sure to use it as best as I can."

Chef nodded his head at his fellow host in return, "I know you will."

* * *

Andrea and Courtney had no idea for how they were running away from the herd, but there was one thing that they were certain about. They were exhausted. They've been running and fighting the walkers for what felt like forever.

They were practically stumbling forward at this point, hearing a few walkers growling behind them. Andrea turned to look at the first walker and slammed her pistol against it's head. She slammed it one more time, causing the walker to fall down on the ground, and she slammed it a few more times, making a hole in it's head, out of which blood started pouring out.

Courtney panted as she grabbed one walker by it's shoulders and slammed it against a nearby tree. She slammed her pistol a few times against it's head, getting rid of it as Andrea pulled out a small knife and stabbed another walker right in it's head, taking out another undead chasing them. It was when another walker practically leaped itself towards her and Andrea didn't had a time to react as she was brought to the ground.

The CIT was about to help her out of this situation if it wasn't for another walker which attacked her as well, bringing her down to the ground as well. She and Andrea tried to fight off the walkers on top of them, but they couldn't. They were too exhaused after hours of running away from them, and as they stared fearfully at them, practically bracing themselves for death at this point.

Their fear turned into suprise and confusion when the heads of the walkers attacking them were sliced off by a cloaked figure. Andrea and Courtney watched how now lifeless corpses of the walkers collapsed on the ground before taking a good look at the person that just saved their lives. They could easily say that this person was a woman but neither of them could tell how she looked like because her entire face was covered by a cloak. What got their attention about this woman was the fact that there were two jawless and armless walkers tied into a chain behind her.

The unknown woman swung her katana to the left, some of the blood falling off her blade. She stepped towards Andrea and Courtney who shared a quick look with each other, having no idea what to think about this person...

* * *

Most of the group was gathered around the bonfire in the ruins, trying to stay warm, except for T-Dog and Alejandro who were staying on the watch right now.

"We're not safe with him, keeping something like that from us." Carol spoke up.

"Rick's done all right by me." Daryl stated.

"So do I." Chef said with a nod of his head, "I can understand why he did that and I respect that."

"You're his henchman, both of you and I'm a burden." Carol pointed out.

"I think we should take our chances." Maggie told Glenn.

"Don't be foolish." Hershel scolded her, "There's no food, no fuel, no ammo."

It was when the group heard a noise nearby, spooking them a bit.

"What was that?" Beth asked, growing worried.

"Could be anything." Daryl said as he stood up. Duncan followed him, "Could be a raccoon, could be a possum."

"Walker." Glenn added.

"Don't be stupid, Glenny." Duncan said, "Walkers make more noise."

"So it's a person." Bridgette stated, backing down a bit.

"We need to leave." Carol said, panicking again, "What are we waiting for?"

"Which way?" Ezekiel asked, standing up from his spot as Rick entered the ruins, joining his group.

"It came from over there." Maggie stated.

"Back from where we came." DJ added.

"The last thing we need is for everyone to be running off in the dark." Rick spoke up to his group, "We don't have the vehicles. No one's traveling on foot."

"I'm not sitting here. There's no way I'll be making my way through the herd into safety again." Gwen said, gripping her pistol.

Cody nodded his head in agreement, "We need to move, now."

"No one is going anywhere!" Rick declared.

"Do something!" Carol pleaded.

"I am doing something!" Rick snapped, "I'm keeping this group together, alive. I've been doing that all along, no matter what. I didn't ask for this. **I killed my best friend for you people for Christ's sake!** "

Everyone looked at Rick in shock after hearing this information from him. None of them were suspecting that Rick was the one who killed Shane. Rick continued to stare at everyone's shocked faces in front of him, feeling T-Dog and Alejandro giving him an angry looks from their spots on the watch after learning that he killed Shane.

Everyone had their eyes on Rick as he continued, making sure they heard all of it, "You saw what he was like, how he pushed me, how he compromised us, how he threatened us. He staged the whole Randall thing, led me out to put a bullet in my back. He gave me no choice. He was my friend, but he came after me."

Carl had begun sobbing in his mother arms as Daryl and Chef nodded their heads at Rick, feeling their respect growing for the leader of their group. Shane may have been Chef's friend but he understood why Rick had to do it. This entire situation with Randall breaking out from his prison now made perfect sense to him. Shane left Rick no choice. Chris nodded his head as well, having to kill someone to protect someone from the group as well, the only difference being that he didn't knew anything about the man that he killed.

"Maybe you people are better off without me." Rick continued, "Go ahead. I say there's a place for us,but maybe it's just another pipe dream. Maybe I'm fooling myself again. Why don't you go and find out yourself? Send me a postcard. Go on, there's the door. You can do better? Let's see how far you get."

He stopped speaking for a moment, when no one from the group stepped forward or said anything, he continued, "No takers? Fine. But get one thing straight, if you're staying, this isn't a democracy anymore."

He turned away from his group and walked into the darkness as the group was left in the ruins to process what he had just said.

There was one thing that all of them were sure about.

From now, things weren't going to be the same...

* * *

**Ricktatorship has officialy begun!**

**We're finally done with season 2! Only 9 more seasons left to go!** **I'm looking forward to write season 3, I'm especially looking forward to the prison, Merle's return, Michonne, and the introduction of the Governor and Woodbury.**

**And I have a small question for you:**

**Who do you think is going to die from Total Drama in season 3?**


	20. Seed

Four walkers stood in front of the doorway in an abandoned house. The doors were opened and Rick Grimes was the first one to enter the house, shooting one of the undead in the head with his silenced pistol while Chris McLean came over to another walker and slammed the back of his rifle against's head, knocking it down. He finished the walker off with a firm kick right at it's head.

T-Dog made his way to another walker and stabbed it right in the head with a firepicker as Alejandro walked over to the legless walker laying on the floor and got rid of it by placing his tomahawk right in it's forehead. The two looked at each other and exchanged quick nods.

Daryl, Duncan, Carl, Chef, Izzy, Heather, Harold entered the house right after. The juvie and the redneck went together in their own way, so did Izzy and Harold, as Carl and Chef made their way to Rick and Chris. The host of Total Drama and the sheriff deputy searched through the hallway closet, only to come across Alejandro, Heather and T-Dog on the other side of it, while Chef and Carl went into the kitchen, looking for any supplies or walkers.

Harold walked into the bathroom and searched through the cabinets, trying to find anything useful while Izzy remained on the guard in front of the entrance to the bathroom. The nerdy teenager eventually found a medicine in one of the cabinets and showed it off to Izzy to let her know that he found something useful to which the orange haired teen nodded her head.

Duncan and Daryl walked together up the stairs, heading towards another floor of the house to see if they could find anything useful there while Chef opened the door in the kitchen, letting Glenn, Maggie, Noah, Ezekiel and Gwen into the house. T-Dog slowly opened the door into the what seemed to be the girls room before this house was abandoned by it's owners and entered it along with Alejandro and Heather entering, only to find nothing.

Daryl entered one room on another floor and spotted an owl on a chair. He aimed his crossbow at it and slowly approached it, and was about to fire an arrow at it, but someone else shoot it before he had a chance to do so. He turned back to look at the person that killed it and saw Duncan. The juvie walked past him towards the now dead owl, sending the younger Dixon a smirk to which Daryl rolled his eyes.

The juvie took his arrow from now the dead own's body and picked it up from the chair slowly after. He threw it to Daryl who started picking it's feathers out as they started to head into the lower floor to met up with the rest of their group.

After making sure that the entire house was cleared out, Rick whistled and the rest of the group started to enter the house. Beth was the first one to come in, and was followed by Leshawna, DJ, Bridgette, Cody, Sierra, Carol, Hershel, and heavily pregnant Lori who had her right hand placed on her belly. She exchanged a look with her husband before entering the living room along with the rest of the group.

Glenn took a couple of crackers out from the bag, before giving Maggie one. He then held one out to Noah who gave him a grateful nod before taking the cracker from the asian man while everyone tried to get comfortable in a place where they were planning to spend the night.

Leshawna stared at Daryl who continued to pick the own's feathers out, before pulling out a tin of sardines from her backpack, knowing that this one owl wasn't going to be enough for their group. She opened it and took sardine out before handing the tin to Gwen who took one sardine out from it before handing the tin to Heather. Gwen, Leshawna and Heather decided to follow Duncan's and Harold's example and bury the hatchet a few days after the fall of the farm. The group continued to exchange the tin among themselves, until it completely ran out of the sardines.

Carl walked into the room and placed two cans of dog food on the floor before kneeling in front of it. He glanced over to Cody who handed him the can opener. Carl immediately used it to open the cans as Hershel and DJ stared at him in pity, knowing that the young boy was hungry. Rick came over to his son and picked one can up. He looked at the dog food in disgust before tossing it across the room in frustation.

It was when Chris clapped his hands two times and pointed at the window, which meant only one thing. That the group wasn't going to stay in this house for any second longer because the undead were heading right towards them. Everyone took their things and headed out of the house towards their vehicles.

Daryl and Duncan quickly hopped into their motorcycles and started them up, Maggie, Hershel, Glenn, Noah, and Beth went into the Hyundai, Chris and Chef got themselves into their large truck, Alejandro, Heather and T-Dog went into the blue truck, with Izzy, Ezekiel, Cody and Sierra hopping into the trunk of the same vehicle, DJ, Leshawna, Gwen, Bridgette and Harold got into the car that they got from the gas station, and Rick, Carl, Lori and Carol got into another vehicle.

The entire group quickly drove off, away from the house, before the walkers got any closer to them.

* * *

Everyone stopped their vehicles in the middle of the road when they made sure that they were in safe distance away from the walkers and they weren't going to reach them for now. The group started gathering around the Hyundai where they were going to plan their next step as Chef who took the map from the truck with him placed it on the front of the Hyundai.

Gwen sighed, looking down at the map, "That's a shame we couldn't stay in that house."

"Yeah." Cody nodded in agreement, stopping next to her along with Daryl.

"We got no place left to go." T-Dog stated, standing between Alejandro and Heather.

"When this herd meets up with this one, we'll be cut off." Maggie stated, "We'll never make it South."

"How many of them was there?" DJ asked, turning to look at Daryl and Duncan.

"I and Daryl counted 150 heads." Duncan answered.

"That was last week." Noah pointed out, "It could be twice that by now."

"This river could have delayed them." Hershel said, pointing at the river on the map, "If we move fast,we might have a shot to tear right through there."

Alejandro pointed at one spot on the map, "Yeah, but if this group joins with that one, they could spill out this way."

"So, we're blocked." Bridgette stated with a sigh escaping her mouth.

"Only thing to do is double back at 27 and swing towards Greenville." Rick suggested.

"Yeah, we picked through that already." T-Dog stated, "It's like we spent the winter going in circles."

"Yeah,I know. I know. At Newnan we'll push west. Haven't been through there yet." Rick said in response as he turned to look at his wife who sat in the front of a car, "We can't keep going house to house. Need to find someplace to hole up for a few weeks."

T-Dog nodded his head, "All right."

"Someone should head out to that creek over here." Chef said, as he placed his finger on the map, "I shouldn't take long. We got to fill up on water. We can boil it later."

"He's right." T-Dog agreed with Chef, "I can go."

"I could try to catch a fish or two in that creek." Ezekiel added, as he pointed at his fishing rod in the trunk of the blue truck.

"Knock yourself out." Rick nodded his head, as everyone started to head out to do their own thing, leaving him with Hershel, Daryl, Chef and Chris.

"They can't take much more of this moving about." The farmer told Rick, watching how everyone walk away from them.

"What else can we do?" Rick asked, "Let them give birth on the run?"

Hershel placed his hand on Rick's shoulder, "Did you see a way around that?"

He removed his hand from Rick's shoulder and walked away from the sheriff deputy to talk with DJ and Bridgette who were having a conversation. The two of them became some sort of the doctors of the group along with the farmer. They learned a lot from him during all these months, but there was still a lot of learning ahead of them.

"Hey." Daryl called out to Rick, Chris and Chef who turned to look at him, "While the others, wash their panties, let's go hunt. That owl didn't exactly hit the spot."

Chef nodded his head to that, "Sounds good."

"Should I go and ask Duncan to join us?" Chris asked.

"I already send him hunting with Harold and Izzy." Daryl answered.

Rick, Chef and Chris nodded their heads as Daryl loaded an arrow into his crossbow and turned back, before heading into the woods. The three men followed him and the four of them spend the next several minutes walking through the forest, attempting to find even the smallest animal that their group could use as a meal, but unfortunely, he and Chef couldn't find any tracks. The only thing that they came across in the forest was a single walker which was easily taken out by Daryl who fired an arrow right between it's eyes.

They eventually found themselves on what appeared to be an old train tracks. They walked along the tracks for a few seconds before something in the distance caught their attention. They stopped immediately after spotting what appeared to be a huge abandoned prison and eyed it for a few seconds.

Chris looked through the scope on his rifle, taking a good look at the prison and shook his head, "It's filled with those things."

Daryl shook his head, "That's a shame."

"Yeah." Chris nodded in agreement.

"Let me take a look." Chef said to his fellow host, who instantly responded to his words and handed his rifle to him, allowing Chef to take a good look at the prison too.

"What do you think Rick?" Chris asked Rick, rubbing his growing beard.

Rick smiled, "I think it's home."

* * *

Rick, Chef, Chris and Daryl made their way back to the group and quickly informed them about what they found while they were hunting in the forest. Everyone had gotten themselves into their vehicles and drove in the direction of the prison. They stopped their vehicles several meters ahead of the prison and hopped out of them. They prepared everything they needed to clear this place out of walkers, and started making their way to the fence.

Rick and Chef started cutting two holes in the fence. After all it would be faster for their rather big group to enter the other side if there were two holes instead of one while everyone else took out the walkers that happened to be nearby. Glenn pinned one walker against the fence, allowing Noah to finish it off with a quick and simple stab to it's head while Gwen stabbed the approaching walker right in it's head, getting rid of it.

"Watch the backside." Daryl declared to the group.

Sierra nodded her head, "Got it."

It took Rick and Chef a few more seconds to cut the hole in the fence, and everyone from the group started coming through it to the other side. When the entire group made it, Daryl and Glenn started wrapping some wire around one hole while Duncan and Alejandro did the same to the other hole. One walker lunged for them immediately after they closed the holes, but it never had a chance to make it to them as the tall fence was stopping it.

The group pushed themselves into run and started making their way towards the main gate, earning the attention of a few the walkers infesting the field on the other side, but they didn't care about it.

Rick took a good look at the fields immediately after they made it to the main gate, "It's perfect. If we can shut that gate, prevent more from filling the yard, we can pick off these walkers. We'll take the field by tonight."

"So how do we shut it?" Hershel asked.

"I'll do it." Glenn volunteered, "You guys cover me."

"It's a suicide ran." Maggie stated.

"I'm the fastest." Glenn pointed out.

"No, you, T-Dog, Maggie, Leshawna, Izzy, Bridgette, Noah, Heather, DJ, Sierra, Cody, Gwen and Beth draw as many as you can over there. Pop 'em through the fence." Rick explained, pointing at the fence to which all of the people he mentioned nodded, "Daryl, Chris, Zeke, Duncan, go back to the other tower." He turned to look at Carol, "Carol, you've become a pretty good shot. Take your time. We don't have a lot of ammo to waste." He turned to the few people from his group, and pointed at another tower, "Hershel, you, Harold, Alejandro, Chef, and Carl take this tower. I'll run for the gate."

Everyone started to getting in their positions. Several members of the group made their way to the fence and started slamming their weapons against it, earning attention of many walkers that ended up receiving a blade through their heads the moment they set slammed their bodies against the fence. Chef handed Rick a thing which the sheriff deputy was going to use to close the gate before heading into the tower along with Harold, Hershel, Chef and Carl.

Rick cocked his silenced pistol and walked over to the gate. He shared a look with his pregnant wife before the gate was opened by her. The sheriff deputy tightened his grip around his silenced pistol as he started to run towards the gate, killing one zombified prisoner as at the same time he started to receive some backup from the people on the towers.

Chris looked through the scope of his rifle as he aimed it right at the center of the head of one walker. He pulled the trigger and the undead laid dead on the ground just a second later while Daryl fired an arrow from his crossbow getting rid of a walker that stood right next to the one that Chris just killed. Rick was just meters away from the gate when stopped when he saw that someone almost shot him. He turned in the direction of the person that almost shot him and saw Carol holding a machine rifle.

"Sorry." Carol said in a bland tone since he couldn't hear her as Rick starte to make his way towards the gate again.

"Did you seriously almost shot him?" Duncan asked her, releasing an arrow from his bow to which Carol nodded her head in confirmation.

Rick got rid of one more walker as he finally made it to the gate. He grabbed it, intending to close it as fast as possible but stopped when one undead prisoner lunged at him. He kicked it, sending it a few meters backwards, before closing the gate. He binded the gates together to make sure that they weren't going to be opened before making his way to the watch tower next to him.

"He did it." Leshawna exchanged a grin with Gwen, "That crazy white boy actually did it!"

Daryl whistled, earning everyone's attention, "Fire up!"

The people that stood in front of the fence instantly responded to his words. They put their melee weapons aside and pulled out their guns. They started shooting down every walker on the other side of the fence, now that they were sure that more of them weren't going to join. Rick grinned as he got himself on top of the watch tower and started shooting the undead down with his pistol.

It was only a matter of time before the entire group found themselves staring on the field that was now filled with the bodies of the undead. Everyone stopped what they were doing and started making their way towards the gate.

"Fantastic." Carol smiled, walking with Chris, Daryl, Ezekiel and Duncan towards the gate. Hershel, Carl, Harold, Alejandro and Chef joined them shorty after.

Daryl glanced at her, "Nice shooting."

"I'm sure that Rick is going to say the same." Duncan send Carol a smirk, who rolled her eyes at his teasing, but continued to smile nevertheless.

"Eh, how long was it since we had so many space for ourselves?" Ezekiel asked.

Chris grinned, "I think since we left the farm."

"I never thought that I'll be happy at the thought of sleeping on a bunk bed again." Duncan stated.

"It's quite ironic that we're all willingly going to jail now." Harold stated, smilling.

Duncan nodded his head in agreement, "You can say that, Doris."

"How are you doing?" DJ asked Lori.

She responded with a nod of her head and a smile, "I haven't felt this good in weeks."

The rest of the group entered the field through the opened gate. Izzy finished off one walker that survived by placing her her hunting knife in it's brain, while the entire group could hear T-Dog whooing in excitement.

* * *

It was now night and most of the group was gathered around a camp fire, preparing some food for themselves while Daryl and Duncan were standing on the watch on top of the flipped vehicle.

"Mmm." Glenn said, trying some cooked fish that Ezekiel caught in the creek, "Just like mom used to make."

"After all it was made by DJ." Bridgette said as DJ simply grinned and waved it off.

"What are we going to do with the bodies?" Cody asked.

"We'll put all them together." T-Dog answered, "Want to keep them away from that way. Now, if we can dig a canal under the fence, we'll have plenty of fresh water."

"And this soil is good." Hershel added, smilling, "We could plant some seed, grow some tomatoes, cucumbers, soybeans."

"This place just keeps getting better." Sierra grinned.

Heather smiled, "I can't believe that I'm happy at the thought of staying in a real jail."

"You can say that again." Alejandro nodded his head in agreement as he sat next to her. He and Heather became close friends over past few months.

"That's his third time around." Chef spoke up as everyone turned their attention towards the co-host to see him staring at Rick who was patrolling the area, "If there was any part of it compromised, he'd have found it by now, but I can't blame him for being cautious."

Bridgette turned to look at Lori, "This'll be a good place to have the babies. Safe."

Daryl and Duncan remained on top of the vehicle when they heard someone climbing up to the top of it. They looked down and saw Carol, carrying some food for the younger Dixon and the juvie. They slouched their weapons over their shoulders and helped her climb up.

"That's not much." Carol said, now standing on top of the vehicle alon with them, holding out some food for them, "But if I don't bring you something, you won't eat at all."

Daryl took some food from her and placed it in his mouth, "I guess little Shane over there has quite the appetite."

Carol shook her head, "Don't be mean. Rick's gotten us a lot further than I ever thought he would, I'll give him that. Shane could never have done that."

"What's wrong?" Duncan asked Carol when he saw touch her shoulder, munching on the piece of fish that she brought him.

"It's that rifle." Carol answered, "The kickback. I'm just not used to it."

"You remind me of myself when Shane and Chef taught me and Izzy how to shot all kinds of weapons back in Atlanta." Duncan stated, giving her an assuring pat on her other shoulder, "It should last a week or two."

"Hold on." Daryl said, placing his hands on Carol's shoulder. He started to put some pressure on it, giving her a small massage for several seconds, "Better get back."

"It's pretty romantic." Carol said jokingly, turning to the redneck, "Want to screw around?"

Daryl snorted as Carol laughed. Duncan had to stop himself from bursting into laughter at the images that flew through his head, "I'm just trying to picture you both together."

"Do you still think about her?" Carol asked him.

The juvie sighed, knowing the person that Carol was referring to, "Sometimes."

"Do you think she's still out there?" Carol asked him another question.

"I don't know." Duncan answered, plain and true, "I don't know."

Back at the camp fire, Hershel turned to his younger daughter, "Bethy, sing Paddy Reilly for me. I haven't heard that,I think,since your mother was alive."

"Daddy, not that one, please." Maggie said, softly.

He thought for a moment, "How about "The Parting Glass"?"

"No one wants to hear." Beth stated.

"Why not?" Glenn asked her.

"...Okay." Beth said, uneasily. Then she started to sing. Everyone had their eyes on her as their listened to her angelic voice, as Rick, Duncan, Carol and Daryl were making their way back to the group from their spots. She paused for a second and looked at her sister, before they started singing together. Their voices merged beautifully, but unfortunely, as the song begun, they seemed to have finished it.

"Beautiful." Hershel smiled, earning a few nods of agreement from the group.

Sierra turned to look at Chris, "How about you sing something now?"

"What?" Chris asked the superfan, confused.

"Why should he sing?" Noah wanted to know, "I don't recall our favourite host having ability to sing."

"You don't know that Chris was in a boy band?" Sierra asked him in return.

"Wait a second." Glenn said, suprised by Sierra's words, "Chris was in a boy band?"

"Back in the eighties he was." Sierra confirmed with a nod of her head, before adding in a singing tone, "Making trouble is easy to do. But making you love me is painful!~"

Gwen turned to look at the host of Total Drama, her eyes wide in suprise, "You were in Fame Town?"

Chris eyed the crowd around him and could feel everyone's eyes on him. He just shrugged his shoulders at their questioning expressions. This answer was enough for them. It was just a matter of seconds before the sound of a lot of the members from the group bursting in laughter rang in his ears. He looked up at Chef to see that his fellow host was one of the ones laughing. Chris rolled his eyes, but smiled nevertheless.

"Better all turn in." Rick spoke up to his group, "I'll take watch over there. Got a big day tomorrow."

"What do you mean?" Ezekiel asked.

"Look, I know we're all exhausted. This was a great win." Rick began, "But we've got to push just a little bit more. Most of the walkers are dressed as guards and prisoners. Looks like this place fell pretty early. It could mean the supplies may be intact. They'd have an infirmary, a commissary."

"What about the armory?" Heather wanted to know, "We could use some ammo."

"That would be outside the prison itself, but not too far away." Rick replied, "Warden's offices would have info on the location. Weapons, food, medicine. This place could be a gold mine. We will go in there hand to hand. After all we've been through, we can handle it, I know it. These assholes don't stand a chance."

* * *

The next day the group had prepared everything to take over the next part of the prison. Rick had selected the group that will go with him to take out walkers on the other side of the fence. This group consisted of him, Daryl, Chef, Glenn, Alejandro, T-Dog, Maggie, Duncan, and Izzy.

"Hey." T-Dog came up to Alejandro's side, slapping his back, earning the spanish teen attention, "Let's get this done."

"You don't need to tell it to me, twice, amigo." Alejandro nodded his head to that, tying his hair into a ponytail before taking out his tomahawk.

Rick unhinged the chains holding the gate and the entire group of people that he picked for this task entered the other side. Izzy quickly placed her hunting knife in the brain of the walker, Daryl doing the same with his own knife. Rick walked in front of the group as he took out one walker with his machete while Alejandro got rid of another undead with his tomahawk.

"Don't break rank!" Chef shouted as T-Dog left the huddle for a second. The dark skinned man picked up the riot shield and knocked one undead down with it.

They proceeded to make their way through the yard for a few more moments, taking out anything in their path until they reached one door. Rick took a quick peek at the area ahead of them and saw a huge group of walkers behind a gate. it was when he spotted a few walkers wearing riot armor walking towards them.

Duncan took his bow off his back and loaded an arrow into it before firing it at the undead, only to have the arrow deflected by it's armor. He, Rick, Chef and T-Dog moved towards them, intending to take out as fast as possible as a walker wearing a gas mask came through the doors. Izzy gritted her teeth as she tried to stab it, right in it's head, but didn't kill it, because the gas mask protected the undead from any harm.

"Daryl! Chef!" Rick cried out to the younger Dixon and the co-host of Total Drama as the walkers standing behind the gate noticed them and started moving towards them. They moved towards the gate, taking out three walkers on their way there and quickly closed the gate before more undead could approach them.

Izzy gritted her teeth as one of the walkers wearing riot gear lunged at her. She held it back, and glared at the undead which was showing it's rotting teeth to her, as the idea how to take it out popped into her mind. She grabbed the walker by it's helmet and stabbed it right in the bottom part of it's jaw, taking it out as it's lifeless corpse collapsed on the ground, landing in front of her.

She turned to face the other members of her group, "See that?"

Everyone quickly followed her example and started taking out the riot gear wearing walkers the same way as she did. Alejandro went over to the gas mask wearing one and knocked it to the ground. He pulled it's gas mask off it's face, accidently pulling the entire skin off his face. He cringed in disgust at the view of rotting skull before ending the undead's life once and for all.

The entire yard seemed to be cleared off and Glenn and Maggie were about to run over to the gate to let everyone else in, but Rick stopped them, "Stop."

"It looks secure." Glenn stated.

"Not from the look of that courtyard over there." Daryl answered, before pointing at one corpse, "And that's a civilian."

"So the interior could be overrun with walkers from outside the prison." Izzy assumed.

Duncan rolled his eyes, "Great."

"Something just had to happen." Alejandro stated to which Duncan nodded in agreement.

"Well, if there's walls down, what are we gonna do?" Glenn asked, "We can't rebuild this whole place."

"We can't risk a blind spot." Rick said, as he pointed at the entrance to the prison, "We have to push in."

They all made their way inside of the prison as quietly as they could, not to drag attention of any walkers that could be there. They proceeded to make their way through the building, making sure that everything around them was secure. Rick walked up the stairs to the small guard tower, to be greeted by the sight of a prison guard who commited suicide. He saw keys hanging from his pocket and the sheriff deputy made sure to take them with him, knowing that he was going to use them in a few seconds.

He came down to the rest of his group and used one key to open the gate leading to the cell block. The group split up in two groups and started making sure that there was no walkers in any of the cells. Maggie cringed and shook her head at the view of a rotting corpse of a prisoner in one of the cells as she checked the cells on the lower level along with Glenn, Izzy, T-Dog and Alejandro.

Chef, Rick, Duncan and Daryl walked up the stairs leading to the upper level and started checking cells, one by one, eventually finding two walkers in two separate cells that lunged for them the moment they set their eyes on them. Daryl exchanged a look with Duncan as they pulled out their knives, having only one intention of finishing these walkers once and for all.

* * *

Alejandro wiped his hands against one other as he threw one body of a prisoner over the railing, hearing it land on the floor with loud thump, which was followed by the sound of several people entering the cell block. They send Glenn and Maggie to bring the rest of the group here a few minutes ago.

Rick smiled at his group, "What do you think."

"Home sweet home." Gwen said.

"For the time being." Rick answered.

"It's secure?" Cody asked.

Rick nodded his head in confirmation, "This cellblock is."

"What about the rest of the prison?" Hershel wanted to know.

"You sure we won't get ambushed during the night?" DJ added.

"It's safe here." Chef answered, "We made sure of it."

"In the morning, we'll find the cafeteria and infirmary." Rick added.

"We sleep in the cells?" Beth asked.

Heather shrugged, "As long as bunk beds are comfortable, I'm fine with it."

"Comfy as any other place these days." Noah stated.

"I found keys on some guards. Daryl and Chef have a set, too." Rick explained.

"I ain't sleeping in no cage." Daryl said, "I'll take the perch."

The group split up in several direction and started choosing their own cells on both floors.

"Pretty gross." Beth chuckled as Carl stood behind her.

"Yeah." He nodded his head, "Remember the storage units?"

Beth sat down on the lower bunk bed, and bouced down and up a bit, "it's actually comfortable. Check it out."

Carl went over to the upper matress and touched it. She was right. It was comfortable. It was when he heard a familiar voice say to him, "You find your cell yet?"

The young Grimes turned to the farmer, not excepting him, "Yeah, I was just making sure Beth was safe. See you tomorrow."

He quickly walked out of the cell as Hershel turned to his daughter with a smile. Beth rolled her eyes and shook her head with a smile.

Heather choose one of the cells on the upper level for herself. She entered it and smiled at the view of the bunk bed in front of her. She threw her things on the upper bunk before laying down on the lower bunk. She put her hands behind her head, relaxing on the best sleeping spot she's had in months.

Alejandro appeared in the doorway, "How is your new bed?"

"You already know my answer." Heather answered, "At least I won't wake up with someones dirty shoe in front of my face."

Alejandro chuckled, "Blame T-Dog for that, not me."

"Did you picked one for yourself?" Heather asked him.

"I'm still trying to find one." Alejandro replied. Heather nodded her head as Alejandro headed out, looking for a cell for himself. He eventually came across a cell which T-Dog found for himself. The spanish teen looked at the dark skinned man, "I see that you're making yourself at home, amigo."

"Damn straight." T-Dog responded with a smile and a thumb ups, before Alejandro took two steps forward, stopping in front of the empty cell next to T-Dog's. He shrugged his shoulders and entered it, choosing it for himself as his own cell.

Maggie and Glenn stumbled in front of cell to be greeted by the sight of Noah who was laying on the bunk as if it was the first bed he ever laid on in his entire life.

Glenn smiled at his friend, "I see that you already like your new home, man."

"Considering that for the last few months we had to sleep in cars or on the ground, it's great." Noah answered.

The asian man and Maggie turned away from the bookworm and entered the cell next to his. Maggie placed her things on the upper bunk, not even caring about dirty sheets, "I'm so exhausted, I don't even care."

The couple sat down on the lower bunk. Glenn started moving his fingers across her shoulder and back, "Here, let me see."

"What you doing?" She asked him.

"Checking for scratches." Glenn answered, before kissing her shoulder, "You're okay."

Daryl with Duncan's help dragged a matress out of the cell and placed it on the porch. He laid down on it, placing his hands behind his hand as he looked up at the juvie, "What about you? Cage or the floor?"

Duncan shrugged his shoulders, "I already slept on a bunk bed, even before Total Drama, in the juvie, so I think you already know the answer."

Daryl nodded his head as Duncan walked away from him towards the cell that the juvie choose for himself, hearing how Harold was talking with Leshawna and Gwen under him before entering it. The entire group settled down in their own cells and slowly drifted into sleep.

* * *

A black skinned woman with long dreadlocks hanging down her back looked around herself before moving into a small building in front of her to be greeted by the sight of two jawless and armless walkers tied into a table. She walked past them and entered another room. She looked around the room and saw that the two people she was with for the past months were missing.

She reached for her blade and but quickly let go off it when she entered another room, because she saw Andrea and Courtney laying on the floor, "What are you two doing here?"

"Oh." Courtney said, her voice was so weak, "Hey, Michonne."

"We needed some light." Andrea answered, sounding as weak as Courtney.

Michonne knelt down in front of them. At first helped Courtney to sat up from the CIT's laying position, before helping Andrea as well. She pulled out some aspirin pills that she found while she was out in the town and gave it to them.

"How is it out there?" Andrea asked her.

"Same." Michonne answered, "It's quiet."

Courtney weakly shook her head, "You're lying."

"We should go in a few days." Michonne told them.

"They're coming." Andrea stated, "You should go."

Michonne shook her head, "No."

"I and Andrea discussed this while you were out there." Courtney said, "We're holding you back."

Andrea coughed, "We won't have you dying for us. Good soldier won't leave your post."

"We'll go in a few days." Michonne repeated herself, standing up.

"If we stay...I and Andrea will die here." Courtney pointed out.

Michonne knew that unfortunely the CIT was right about that. She decided to listen to them and head out earlier than she originally planned. She walked ahead of them, with her walkers on the chain walking closely behind her while Andrea and Courtney slowly walked behind them.

* * *

Rick, Chef, Daryl, Chris, Hershel, T-Dog, Izzy, Harold, Alejandro, Duncan and Hershel placed the equipment that they found on the table, checking it they could use it to clear out the rest of the prison.

"Not bad." Daryl stated.

"Flashbangs, CS Triple-Chasers." Chef said, "Not sure how they'd work on walkers, but we'll take 'em."

Duncan picked up a disgusting helmet, "There's no way I'll be wearing that."

"I don't think that's even safe for anyone to wear." Harold stated.

"We could boil 'em." T-Dog suggested.

"Ain't enough firewood in the whole forest, Dog." Duncan stated, "Besides, we made it this far without 'em, right?"

"Who will be going with you?" Chris asked.

"We're going to need a few more people to the group." Rick answered, "Hershel will be going with us because we'll be cleaning out the infirmary."

"Do you have anyone beside him in mind?" T-Dog asked.

Rick shook his head, "No. I'm going to ask who will want to go."

"I can talk with Gwen." Harold said, "I and Leshawna talked with her yesterday and she said that she was going to ask you guys if she could come with you."

Duncan nodded his head in confirmation, "I heard them talking about it when I was going into my cell."

"I can ask Heather." Alejandro added.

"I can come too." Chris added his part as well.

"Hershel." A familiar voice rang through their ears as everyone turned in the direction of it and saw Carol and Bridgette.

"We need your help with something." The surfer added.

"Everything all right?" Rick asked them.

"Yeah." Bridgette nodded her head, "It's nothing severe."

Hershel walked over to them and Carol and Bridgette lead him to the cell where Lori and DJ were wating for him. He knelt down in front of her as Lori told him, "It's the baby. I think I lost it."

"You haven't felt it move?" Hershel asked her.

"I asked her and she said nothing." DJ answered for her.

"At first I thought it was exhaustion or malnutrition." Lori said.

"You're anemic?" Hershel asked her another question.

"If we're all infected then so's the baby. So what if it's stillborn? What if it's dead inside me right now? What if it rips me apart?" Lori asked, in a terrified tone. It sounded like she was seconds away from crying.

"Lori, stop." Bridgette said, placing her hand on Lori's shoulder to comfort her, "I wish I could say that I could say that I know what you're going through right now, but I can't because I was never pregnant, and I don't feel like I'll be in a long time. There's one thing that I know what to say, though. You can't let fear take control of you."

Lori was now sobbing, tears spilled down her cheeks, "Okay. Then let's say it lives and I die during childbirth."

"That's not going to happen." Hershel assured her.

"Why not? How many women died in childbirth before modern medicine?" Lori continued, "If I come back,what if I attack it? Or you? Or Bridgette? Or DJ? Or Rick? Or Carl? If I do,if there is any chance,you put me down immediately. You don't hesitate. Me, the baby, if we're walkers, you don't hesitate and you don't try to save us. Okay? It might have been better if..."

She paused and Hershel quickly noticed this, "If what?"

Lori exhaled, "I'd never made it off the farm."

"You're exhausted, frightened..." Hershel attempted to say to her.

"Yeah, that's true." Lori said, "My son can't stand me. And my husband, after what I put him through..."

"Lori. We've all been carrying that weight. All winter." DJ assured her, trying to find a way how to comfort her.

"He hates me." Lori continued, now crying even more, "He's too good a man to say it, but I know. I put him and Shane at odds. I put that knife in his hand."

"You know who doesn't give a shit about that? This baby." Hershel said as Lori let out a bitter laugh, "Now let's make sure everything's all right."

Lori exhaled deeply after a moment, wiping tears from her cheeks, "Thank you, all three of you."

* * *

The group with was preparing to search the prison, putting body armor. There were a few additions to the people that cleared out the yard. Chris and Hershel were busy putting an armor over their bodies, Alejandro conviced Heather join them, and Harold went to inform Gwen that Rick was looking for volunteers for searching the prison to which the goth girl responded by coming to them.

Carl put a helmet over his head which Rick didn't fail to notice. He quickly walked over to his son and took it off, "You won't need that. I need you to stay put."

"You're kidding." Carl told him in response.

"We don't know what's in there." Rick explained, "I need you to handle things here."

Carl nodded his head, "Sure."

"Great." Rick held the keys out to him, "Let's go."

* * *

Daryl opened the gate leading into a hallway as the entire group consisting of him, Rick, Chef, Chris, Glenn, Hershel, Maggie, Hershel, T-Dog, Alejandro, Duncan, Izzy, Gwen and Heather entered huddled up together and entered the hallway. Chef, Glenn, Chris and Rick shined their flashlights, giving themselves and the rest a good look ahead of them as they walked through the hallway.

Gwen shook her head at the view of a few skeletons of prisoners ahead of them, "Walker must have got them."

"We need to watch out." Izzy said, "The walkers that got them may still be here."

They all nodded to that as they slowly and carefully moved forward. Rick turned to look at Duncan and nodded his head at him. The juvie pulled out a can of spray and painted something on the wall just in case if they got lost in these dark hallways. He moved back to the group, and his eyes snapped open when he walked into someone who happened to be Alejandro.

He breathed in a relieved sigh that it was Alejandro, not a walker, "Sorry, dude."

Alejandro gave him a short nod of his head in response as Duncan joined the rest of the group. The group proceeded to move further into the dark hallways of the prison, passing by more rotting bodies of the former prisoners, with the juvie making sure to paint something on the wall on every corner. Chris, Chef and Rick took a quick peek through a corner and saw a group of the undead, who immediately spotted them and started making their way towards them.

"Walkers!" Chris quietly declared.

"Get back!" Rick ordered, as everyone started backing away from the undead.

Everyone started running away from the walkers, making sure to get away from them as fast as possible, but unfortunely, Glenn, Maggie, Gwen and Chris at some point got separated from the group as the undead came out from another corner, cutting their way. They hid in a nearby room, getting practically squished inside but none of them cared, as they could hear the undead slamming their hands against the doors.

The rest of the group ducked in another room. Chef took a quick peek at where the walkers where and quickly got himself back on he knee, "They're still close."

"Do you think they saw us?" Heather quietly asked.

Chef shook his head, "I don't think so, but I can be wrong."

"Let's hope you're not." Daryl stated.

"Where's Glenn, Chris, Gwen and Maggie?" Rick asked.

"Walkers got in between them and us." Duncan explained.

"We have to go back." Hershel stated.

"But which way?" Alejandro asked.

Rick stood up from his knee and took a quick peek through the doors before exiting the room, followed by everyone else. They quickly started making their way through the hallways, searching for their missing group members, doing their best to not get spotted by the group of the undead that they saw earlier.

It was when they heard a familiar voice say, " _Rick?_ "

He was followed by Chris' voice, " _Guys?_ "

And another Gwen's, " _Where are you?_ "

And Maggie's, " _Daddy?_ "

Hershel heard their voices and stepped in the direction of them. He stepped over a dead walker, carefully not to trip over it, his attention was fully focused on his daughter's voice. He didn't even see how the walkers eyes snapped open. The undead lunged forward, grabbing Hershel's leg and bitting off a piece of flesh from the old's man leg. Hershel collapsed on the floor, letting out a painful scream.

Rick, Chef, Daryl, T-Dog, Alejandro, Heather, Duncan, and Izzy heard this agonizing scream and quickly made their way over to him, the sheriff deputy crying out, "No!"

He pulled out his Python and one bullet to the head was enough to end the walkers' life, not even thinking about the noise he just made. Saving Hershel's life is what mattered to him. Hershel continued to let out one painful groan after another as Maggie, Glenn, Chris and Gwen ran out from the corner, joining the rest of their group.

Maggie immediately broke into sobs and started panicking, "Daddy!"

Chef and Rick wrapped Hershel's arms around their shoulder, helping the farmer to get back on his feet, as the walkers came out from the corner, having a chance to hear the shot and Hershel's painful scream and groans.

"Guys!" Rick shouted to the rest.

Daryl, and Duncan quickly fired arrows from their weapons, getting rid of two walkers, as the group started to move away, only to be forced to change direction when T-Dog spotted that the undead were coming from the hallway on their right as well, which left the with only one way to go. They started heading through the hallway in the middle, eventually coming across a doors to the cafeteria.

Chris quickly opened the doors, and everyone quickly ran into the cafeteria. Rick and Chef placed bitten Hershel on the floor, the latter crying out, "Someone shut the doors!"

Izzy quickly closed the doors, but she knew that it was going to be enough. The walkers started slammed themselves against the doors, attempting to open it as Izzy, Duncan, Chris, Gwen and Daryl were doing their best to not let them inside. T-Dog quickly found something and placed it between the handles, completely locking the doors, as the undead proceeded to smash themselves against it.

"Someone help us hold him down!" Chef shouted.

Daryl and Duncan went away from the doors, leaving Izzy, Chris, T-Dog and Gwen with the job of making sure that the walkers weren't going to enter the room and walked over to Hershel, kneeling down in front of the farmer, and holding him down to the floor, making sure that he wasn't going to move while Chef ripped his trousers around the bite, revealing it to everyone in the cafeteria.

Rick took off his belt and wrapped it around's Hershel's ankle as Maggie sobbed, knowing what was going to happen to her father. The sheriff deputy pulled out a hatchet, "Only one way to keep you alive."

He raised his hatchet in the air before quickly bringing it down on Hershel's leg, beginning to cut it out. Heather, Maggie, Gwen, Chris and Glenn all looked away, not wanting to see this as Rick proceeded to bring his hatchet down on Hershel's leg. The blood splattered around him, painting his clothes, but he didn't paid attention to it. He sliced one last time, hearing how the hatchet touched the floor instead of a bone which meant only one thing. He did it. He cut off Hershel's leg.

Hershel lost his consciousness as Rick placed his bloodied hatchet aside, "He's bleeding out."

"We need to get out of here because he is not going to make it if we'll stay here for long." Alejandro said.

"Uh, guys." Gwen said, as she and the people holding the doors saw that someone was watching them for this whole time.

"There's someone here." T-Dog added.

Everyone turned in the direction that Gwen, Chris, T-Dog and Izzy were looking at and saw five men wearing blue jumpsuits standing on the other side of the room. Daryl, Chef, Alejandro and Duncan immediately rose up from the floor and aimed their weapons at the prisoners who proceeded to stare at what just happened in shock.

One of the prisoners finally spoke up. The only words that left his mouth were, "Oh, shit."

* * *

**Here we go with season 3!**


	21. Sick

Chef, Duncan, Daryl and Alejandro quickly rose up from the floor and aimed their weapons at the prisoners that were just spotted by T-Dog, Gwen, Chris and Izzy while the unknown five men proceeded to stare at them in complete shock which was caused by the fact that they just witnessed how Rick cut Hershel's leg off.

"Who the hell are you?" Daryl demanded to know, aiming his crossbow at the unknown men.

When none of them answered, the co-host of Total Drama spoke up, keeping his shotgun aimed at the jumpsuit wearing men, "My friend here asked you a question."

"He's bleeding out. We gotta go back." Rick declared as he turned to look at Maggie, "Come around here. Put pressure on the knee."

Maggie did exactly as Rick told her to. She knelt down in front of her father's knee and started putting more pressure on it while the sheriff deputy, Glenn and Heather started to prepare everything to leave the cafeteria.

"Why don't you come on out of there?" Daryl ordered the prison who slowly started to come towards them from the other side of the cafeteria, "Slow and steady."

"What happened to him?" One of the prisoners, a mexican looking guy asked.

"The walker bit him." Duncan explained.

The same guy titled his head in confustion, "Bit?"

"You don't know how this works?" Duncan asked in return as the mexican guy reached out for his pistol and aimed it at the people surrounding him, "Hey, hey. Don't think about it."

"Easy now, amigo." Alejandro said, tightening his grip around his pistol, "We don't want to fight you. We already have enough problems to worry about now."

Heather pulled out a small towel from the bag and handed it Rick who then gave it to Maggie, "I need you to hold this. As hard as you can."

Maggie nodded her head and started pressing it against her dad's wound, "Okay."

Glenn stood up from his kneeling position and started heading towards the other side of the cafeteria, "You have medical supplies?"

"Who the hell are you people, anyway?" The mexican guy asked, eyeing the group in front of him as the undead proceeded to slam their bodies against the exit from the cafeteria.

"Don't look like no rescue team." Another prisoner, a white skinned man with a small beard stated.

"It's because we're not one." Chef explained.

Rick and Maggie started picking up Hershel from the floor as Glenn walked out from the kitchen with a rolling table. They didn't waste more time and quickly placed the wounded old man right on top of it.

The sheriff deputy turned to look at T-Dog, "T, the door."

T-Dog nodded his head in response and made his way back to the exit from the cafeteria. Everyone from the group quickly turned their attention away from the prisoners and looked at the doors, readying themselves to face off the walkers from the hallway again.

"Are you crazy?" The youngest one from the prisoners spoke up as Rick, Glenn, Maggie and Heather started rolling the table with Hershel on top of it towards the doors, "Don't open that!"

"We got this." Rick told him in response.

T-Dog pulled out the thing that was holding the doors together and threw it aside. The first walker that entered the cafeteria was wearing body armour. The dark skinned man pushed the undead against the wall, pressing it against it, before finishing it off, once and for all. Another walker entered the cafeteria, this time it was a normal walker of a prisoner, which was taken out by Izzy without any problems.

Rick, Glenn, Maggie and Heaher started rolling the table out of the cafeteria and everyone else quickly followed them. Daryl, Chef, Duncan and Alejandro were the last ones to leave the cafeteria as they kept their weapons aimed at the prisoners, who just stared at them in total confusion.

The group proceeded to make their ways through the hallway, making sure to protect wounded Hershel and the people pushing the table with him on it from any danger. They followed everything that Duncan painted on the wall, trying to get back to the rest of their group as fast as possible. They stopped for a second when they heard the sound of several feets touching the floor. They turned in the direction of the sound, quickly seeing that those were just the prisoners that they found in the cafeteria.

They pushed themselves back into run right after making sure that the ones following them were the prisoners, not the walkers. It took them a few more moments to make their way to the entrance to the room leading straight to the cell block. Chris quickly opened it and everyone started to leave the hallways.

Maggie shook her head in panic, "He's losing too much blood."

"Open the door!" Rick cried out to his group.

"It's Hershel! He's in a bad shape!" Gwen added, running right behind them.

Harold took a quick peek and his eyes snapped open when he saw Hershel laying on the table. He quickly opened the entrance to the cell block, allowing Rick, Maggie, Glenn, Gwen, Chris, and most importantly Hershel to enter it, while Daryl, Chef, Duncan, Izzy, Heather, T-Dog and Alejandro remained in the back to make sure the prisoners weren't going to do anything to their group.

"Daddy!" Beth's eyes instantly began to water after seeing her father in such state.

"What happened to him?" DJ asked, looking down at wounded Hershel, worried for him as Rick, Chris and Glenn picked up Hershel from the table and placed him on the bunk bed in one of the cells.

Chris turned around to see everyone watching them. They owned them a quick explanation, "He was bitten."

"Oh, my god." The worst scenario instantly popped into Beth's mind.

"Is he's gonna turn?" Harold wanted to know, "Did you cut out his leg?"

Rick nodded his head in confirmation, "Yeah."

"Maybe you got it in time." Lori stated.

Bridgette knelt down in front of the bunk bed. She knew that she'll have to use everything she knew about medicine if she wanted to save Hershel's life, "I need bandages."

"We used everything we had." Glenn explained.

"I can go out and get more. There has to be an infirmary here." Harold instantly volunteered.

Bridgette turned to look at the nerdy teenager for a second, before her attention returned to Hershel, "You better return fast, Harold."

"Carl. Go get us any towels you can find." DJ said to Carl as Harold quickly nodded his head before running out from the cell. The giant didn't had to repeat himself. Carl instantly ran off to find towels for Hershel.

"We can burn the wound to clot the blood. I can start a fire." Glenn suggested.

Carol shook his head at his suggestion, kneeling down in front of Hershel along with Bridgette, "No, the shock could kill him. It's not gonna stop the arteries from bleeding. We need to just keep it dressed and let it heal on it's own."

It was when the sound of people arguing with each other rang through everyone's ears as it came from another room, starling them.

"What was that?" Cody asked.

"Prisoners, survivors." Rick explained, beginning to head towards the rest of the group with Chris and Gwen.

Glenn was about to follow them, but Noah stopped him from going any further, "Glenn, you shouldn't go. If Hershel dies, you need to be there for that. Maggie is going to need you."

The asian man nodded his head. His friend was right, "I got it."

* * *

In the other room, Daryl readied his crossbow, aiming it at the group of prisoners in front of him and his fellow members from the group who kept their guns aimed at them as well, not even thinking about lowering their guard, while Alejandro had a small conversation with all five of them. The spanish teen turned back to his group after a moment and went back to them, explaining that he learned what were their names. The mexican guy was Tomas, the bearded man was Axel, the large black guy was Big Tiny, the youngest one from them was Andrew, and the last one of them was Oscar.

"Cell Block C." Tomas said, taking a small step towards them, "Cell 4-that's mine, gringos. Let me in."

"Today's your lucky days, fellas. You've been pardoned by the state of Georgia." Daryl told him in response.

"If you were really prisoners before all of this, then what crimes did you commit to end up here?" Heather wanted to know.

Tomas scoffed, "What is it to you and before all of what?"

"I don't know." Heather rolled her eyes at how stupid this question was, "Maybe it's because we don't know anything about you, except for the fact that you're prisoners and we all are aware what kind of things you have to do to find yourself in jail."

"I never thought that I'll say this, but Heather is right." Duncan agreed with her, as he turned to look at Chef, "We don't know for what crimes they're in for. It can be anything."

Chef couldn't help but feel proud of these two. He cocked his shotgun, "You heard them, what crimes did you commit?"

"Just to let you know, we don't like waiting." Daryl added to which Izzy and T-Dog nodded their heads.

"Armed robbery." Axel instantly replied.

Oscar was the next one who answered, "Breaking and entering."

"I was in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people who were doing the wrong thing." Big Tiny answered, actually looking sorry for what he did.

"Drugs. Possesion, selling, stealing." Andrew explained, "I've done it all, but I'm clean now."

Tomas at first refused to answer, but when he saw everyone aiming their weapons at him, he responded, "...Drugs too, and what you got going on in there?"

"It ain't none of your concern." Chef answered. He could already say that this guy will cause them nothing but trouble.

Tomas reached out for his gun, "Don't be telling me what's my concern."

"Chill, man." Big Tiny spoke up to his fellow inmate, "Dude's leg is messed up. Besides, we're free now. Why are we still in here?"

"The man's got a point." Daryl stated.

"Yeah." Oscar nodded, "And I gotta check on my old lady."

Tomas didn't even thought about leaving. He quickly put everything together, "A group of civilians breaking in to a prison you got no business being in-got me thinking there ain't no place for us to go."

"Maybe you should go and see for yourself?" Duncan offered him.

"Maybe we'll just be going now." Axel stated.

Tomas turned to look at him, "Hey, we ain't leaving."

"You ain't coming in either." T-Dog told him.

"Hey, this is my house, my rules. I go where I damn well please." Tomas snapped, aiming his pistol at them.

"Just try it, you maggot!" Chef said, "I won't hesitate."

"Be smart, amigo." Alejandro told him. "Do you really think it's going to end well for you? We're outnumbering you."

Rick came running from the cell block with Chris and Gwen, causing everyone to look at them, "Hey, everyone relax. There's no need for this."

"How many of you are in there?" Tomas asked them.

"Too many of you to handle with just one pistol." Chris answered, aiming his rifle at him.

"You guys rob a bank or something?" Tomas asked another question, "Why don't you take him to a hospital?"

Rick exchanged a quick look with every member from his group that was in this room at this moment. These prisoners were really clueless about everything that happened to the world in the last months, "How long have you been locked in that cafeteria?"

"Going on like 10 months." Tomas answered.

"A riot broke out. Never seen anything like it." Big Tiny added.

"Attica on speed, man." Axel added his part as well.

"Ever heard about dudes going cannibal, dying, coming back to life? Crazy." Andrew stated.

"One guard looked out for us, locked us up in the cafeteria." Tomas explained, "Told us sit tight, threw me this piece, said he'd be right back."

"Yeah." Oscar nodded his hea din confirmation, "And that was 292 days ago. We were thinking that the Army or the National Guard should be showing up any day now."

"There is no army." Rick told them.

"What do you mean?" Tomas wanted to know.

"Army has fallen a long time ago." Duncan explained.

"So did everything else." Izzy added, "Government, hospitals, police. It's all gone. It all fell apart in a matter of few weeks."

Axel's eyes snapped open in shock, "For real?"

"Believe me." Gwen said, "I wish they were lying."

Rick nodded his head, confirming what his group just said, "Serious."

"The groups of people who somehow managed to survive to this point are all that's left." Chef added.

Big Tiny looked down in worry, "What about my moms?"

"My kids? And my old lady?" Oscar took a step forward, "You got a cell phone or something that we can call our families?"

Tomas shook his head, his mind still trying to process everything that he had just heard, "There's no way."

Heather pointed at the exit from the cell block, "See for yourself."

* * *

Everyone slowly came out from the cell block, with the prisoners walking in the front. At first, all five of them clearly enjoyed the fact that they finally left the cafeteria for the first time in over ten months and were actually able to enjoy the shining sun, but this feeling was short lived because their eyes quickly caught their sight of the lifeless corpses of their fellow inmates covering the ground.

"Good lord." Axel spoke up, eyeing his surroundings, "They're all dead."

Tomas shook his head, "Never thought I'd be so happy to see these fences."

"You never said-how the hell did you get in here in the first place?" Andrew asked.

"Cut a hole in that fence over there by that guard tower." Chris explained.

Andrew titled his head towards the host of Total Drama, "That easy?"

Chris shrugged his shoulders, "There wasn't anyone alive protecting it."

Big Tiny poked one of the corpses, "So what is this, like a disease?"

"Yeah, and we're all infected." Rick answered, making the prisoners look at him.

"What do you mean infected?" Axel asked, "Like AIDS or something?"

"If you die, you change into one of those things." Izzy explained, "The way way how to prevent you from changing into one of them in destroying your brain."

"Where'd you come from?" Tomas asked, looking at Rick.

"Atlanta." Rick replied.

Tomas started to come closer to him, "Where are you headed?"

"For now, nowhere." Rick explained as Tomas stopped in front of him.

"We were wandering around aimlessly for a few months now." Alejandro added, standing behind Rick with T-Dog and Heather.

Tomas pointed at the fields on the other side of the fence, "I guess you can take that area down there near the water. Should be comfortable."

"We're using that field for crops." Rick told him.

"We'll help you move your gear out." Tomas offered.

Rick shook his head, "That won't be necessary. We took out these walkers. This prison is ours."

Andrew approached them and stopped by Tomas' side, "You snatched the locks off our doors."

Rick shrugged his shoulders, "We'll give you new locks, if that's how you want it."

Tomas gestured to the area around them, "This is our prison. We were here first."

"Locked in a broom closet?" Rick asked him, "We took it, set you free. It's ours. We spilled blood..."

Tomas cut him off, "We're moving back into our cell block."

"That's not happening." Chef told him, standing by Rick's side with Chris, "We already settled down there."

"It is mine." Tomas snapped, pulling out his pistol, making Rick's group aim their weapons at him, "I've still get personal artifacts in there. That's about as mine as it gets."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Axel attempted to calm down everyone down, "Maybe let's try to make this work out so everybody wins."

"I don't see that happening." Tomas stated.

"Neither do I." Rick stated.

"I ain't going back in that cafeteria for one more minute." Tomas declared.

"There are other cell blocks." Axel pointed out.

"You can always leave if you don't like it here." Daryl offered.

Duncan nodded his head, "Simple as that."

Tomas lowered his pistol, seeming to like the idea that Axel suggested, He nodded his head, "If all of these pussies can do all this, the least we can do is take out another cell block."

"With what?" Big Tiny asked.

"Atlanta here will spot us some real weapons." Tomas answered, looking at Rick, "Won't you, boss?"

"What about your cafeteria?" Chef asked, "It must have plenty of food. Five guys lasting almost a year without having to leave?"

"It sure as hell don't look like anybody's been starving." Alejandro remarked.

"There's only a little left." Tomas explained.

"How about we work some kind of exchange?" Chef asked, "You'll give us half and we'll help clear out a cell block."

"Didn't you hear him?" Andrew asked Chef, "There's only a little left."

Heather rolled her eyes, "It's probably still more than what we saw for the last few months."

"We'll clear out a block for you, then you keep to it." Chef added to the deal he wanted to do with these people, "And we don't want to see you anywhere near our group."

Tomas nodded his head after a moment of thought, "Deal."

* * *

Harold kept his shotgun in ready as he walked down the dark tunnels of the prison, trying to find the infirmary. He wasn't alone. He asked people around the group who wanted to come with him and Leshawna, Ezekiel, Cody and Sierra decided to come with him, while the others stayed with Hershel.

"Do you think we'll to find it?" Cody asked, trying to start a conversation as they proceeded to walk further into the hallways.

"I hope so." Leshawna said, holding a flashlight which was giving them a small source of light, "This place gives me creeps."

"Don't worry." Harold assured her, "As long we keep our guard up, nothing is going to happen."

"Eh, I just hope we don't come across a group of them that will be outnumbering us." Ezekiel stated.

Harold nodded his head to that, "That too, Zeke. If that happens we'll screwed."

Sierra's eyes caught the sight of something ahead of them. she opened her mouth to inform everyone about it, but a yawn escaping her mouth prevented her from doing so. She opened her mouth to speak again, "Guys. I see something."

Leshawna pointed her flashlight in the direction that Sierra was pointing at. A windowned doors with red cross drawn on it appeared in everyone's view. She smiled and send the superfan a smile, "Good eye, girl."

Harold cocked his shotgun and slowly approached the entrance to the infirmary. He turned to look at Ezekiel who nodded his head at him, readying his silenced pistol which was borrowed to him by Carl who wanted to go with them, but ended up staying behind. The nerd slowly opened the doors, and scanned his surroundings. He entered the infirmary and gestured for everyone for follow him, because the only real threat in this place were two walkers who were dressed in white.

"Zeke." He told the homeschooled kid.

Ezekiel nodded his head and aimed the pistol at one of the walkers. He pulled the trigger and the pistol fired, the bullet hitting the undead straight between it's eyes just a second later. The other walker was alarmed by it and turned around, seeing the five alive in front of it. It started to walk towards them, but Ezekiel easily got rid of it just a few seconds later.

The group split around the infirmary and started to look around, wanting to see what it had to offer. Leshawna could feel a huge smile forming on her lips, "Just look at that! Bandages, pills, medkits. this place has everything!"

Harold smiled and approached her, "This far more than what we need."

"It sure is, sugar baby." Leshawna nodded her head.

Cody spotted a duffel bag laying nearby. He went over to it and picked it up from the floor, "Let's pack everything in this bag."

The geek didn't had to repeat himself. Everyone started packing everything their group was needing right now or was going to need sooner or later. Harold had just packed a medkit into the bag, which was followed by Ezekiel placing bandages inside of it. They parted ways and started to take more things as Leshawna and Cody placed something in the bag as well.

Harold spotted that something was off with Sierra. She let out another yawn as she made her way to the bag, placing some pills in it, "Is everything alright, Sierra?"

"It's nothing." Sierra waved it off, "I was just having trouble falling asleep last night."

Harold gave her a small smile, "I'm sure you were just having trouble adjust to sleeping on a bunk bed instead of a car or the ground."

Sierra returned his smile, "Cody said the same thing to me. I guess it is the reason."

The nerdy teenager patted her shoulder, "Don't worry. I'm sure you'll get enough sleep today."

* * *

The prisoners had just brought Rick, Chef, Chris, Duncan, Daryl, T-Dog, Izzy, Gwen, Heather and Alejandro back to the cafeteria, where they were going to split the supplies into two piles.

T-Dog looked around himself, "You never tried to break out of here?"

"Yeah, we tried to take the doors off. But if you make one peep in here, then those freaks'll be lined up outside the door growling,trying to get in." Oscar explained, "Windows got bars on there that He-Man couldn't get through."

"Bigger than a 5x8." Axel added.

Big Tiny nodded his head, "You won't find me complaining. Doing 15. My left leg can barely fit on one of those bunks."

"Yeah, they don't call him Big Tiny for nothing." Oscar said.

"You done jerking each other off?" Tomas asked, earning everyone's attention, "Sick of waiting back here."

He walked into the other side of the cafeteria as Rick placed his hand on his holstered Python, following him there along with the rest of his group. They couldn't help but stare in awe at how much supplies the prisoners had left.

"This definitely more than what we've seen during the last months." Heather stated, recalling what she said earlier.

Duncan looked at Tomas, "This what you call a little bit of food?"

"Goes fast." Tomas answered.

"This is probably a bit to them." Chris stated, "They didn't had to search through every house in the area, hoping to find even the smallest piece of food."

Izzy nodded in agreement, "Probably."

"You can have a bag of corn, some tuna fish..." Tomas began.

Rick cut him off, "We said half. That's the deal."

Alejandro spotted another doors in the back. He walked over to it and placed his hand on the handle, "What's in there?"

"Don't open it." Oscar warned him.

The spanish teen didn't listen to him. He opened the doors and instantly gagged at the terrible smell that came from there. He quickly closed it again, "I shouldn't have done that."

Tomas laughed, "You wanted to know."

* * *

Maggie watched tearfully how Carol, Lori, DJ and Bridgette were doing their best to save her father from dying before walking out of the cell towards her boyfriend. She embraced him tightly, "It was stupid of us to let him go."

"It could have happened to anyone." Glenn attempted to comfort her.

"What are we gonna do without him?" Maggie asked.

"Hey, stop it. All right?" Glenn told her, as they released themselves from the hug. He placed his hands on her shoulders, "He's still here."

"What if he does wake up? Then what? He can't even walk." Maggie pointed out, "All we do is run."

"Hey...this won't break him. Okay?" Glenn assured her, "He's got you and Beth."

Maggie shook her head, "Am I the only person living in reality here?"

"We've been through so much already." Glenn began.

Maggie cut him off, "You're expecting it, too."

"I'm not expecting, all right? I'm just preparing." Glenn explained, "Why don't you go check on Beth? Go on. I'll watch him."

Maggie sighed and walked off, heading towards her sister cell. The first thing that she spotted after entering it was Beth working on some trousers, "What are you doing?"

Beth looked up at her, "He's gonna have a hard time walking around with one side of his pants dragging on the ground. You know, he could trip or something."

"There's a good chance he won't wake up." Maggie pointed out as she knelt down in front of her sister.

"Why are you so eager to give up on him?" Beth asked her.

Maggie shook her head, "I'm not giving up."

"It sure sounds like it." Beth stated.

"I don't want you to get your hopes too high." Maggie explained, "We're not equipped to deal with something like this."

"We have Carol, Bridgette and DJ." Beth pointed out.

"The only one of them that had medical training before all of this is Bridgette." Maggie pointed out in return, "And it was still a basic one."

It was when a familiar voice that belonged to T-Dog rang through their ears, "Food's here."

Carl walked over to the entrance to the cell block and opened it, allowing everyone else to enter it. He looked up at T-Dog who was carrying two boxes of food, "What you got?"

"Canned beef, canned corn, canned cans." T-Dog answered, "There's a lot more where this came from."

"Much more." Alejandro added, carryin two boxes of food as well.

Rick walked over to Noah who stood nearby, "Any change?"

"They got bleeding is under control and he has no fever, but his breath is labored and his pulse is way down and he hasn't opened his eyes yet." Noah explained.

"Take my cuffs, put them on him." Rick said to which Noah nodded in understanding. He was intending to tell Rick to give him his handcuffs before the sheriff deputy apparently had the same idea, "I'm not taking any chances."

Lori approached them as Noah took Rick's cuffs walked away from him to put the sheriff's deputy cuffs on Hershel, "So what about those prisoners?"

Rick sighed, "We're gonna help them clear out their own cell block, and then they'll be there and we'll be here."

"Living beside each other." Lori stated.

"I'm not giving up this prison." Rick told her.

"Do they have guns?" Lori wanted to know.

"I only saw one." Rick answered before rubbing his forehead, "Yeah, I don't know it's gonna work."

"Well, what are your options?" Lori asked him another question.

"Kill them." Rick answered, plain and true.

"If that's what you think is best." Lori shrugged.

Rick shook his head, "You s-you say this now..."

"Look, I know that I'm a shitty wife." Lori began, "And I'm not winning any Mother of the Year awards, but I need you to know that...not for one second do I think there is malice in your heart. You're not a killer, and I know that. I know that, so do whatever you gotta do to keep this group safe. And do it with a clear conscience."

* * *

Rick, Daryl, T-Dog, Chef, Chris, Duncan, Alejandro, Izzy, Tomas, Oscar, Andrew, Axel and Big Tiny were gathered around the table. The prisoners were picking weapons for themselves which they were going to use to clear out the cell block for themselves. Heather and Gwen weren't with them, because Rick ordered them to stay with Hershel in case if something will happen.

Tomas picked up a crowbar and eyed it, "Why do I need this?" He pulled out his pistol, "When I got this?"

"Noise attracts more them to your position, and once you'll get surrounded, there's no way out unless you're extremely lucky." Chris explained.

"That is why we're not using any guns unless they have us pinned against the wall." Chef explained.

"We'll go in four by four. Daryl will run point with T, Duncan and Alejandro." Rick began to explain his plan how to re-take another cell block from the undead to them, "I, Chef and Chris will bring up the rear with you. Stay tight, hold formation no matter how close the walkers get. Anyone breaks ranks,we could all go down. Anyone runs off,they could get mistaken for a walker, end up with an axe to the head."

"And that's where you aim." Daryl added. "These things only go down with a head shot."

"You ain't gotta tell us how to take out a man." Tomas told him.

"They're aren't people anymore." Duncan pointed out, "They're something else."

"Just remember to go for the brain." Rick reminded him, before everyone started to head towards their next destination, ready to take out the walkers from the cell block.

* * *

Daryl and Duncan walked in the front of the group as they were making their way through the dark hallways, their only source of light being two flashlights which were carried by T-Dog and Chris.

"Man, it's too damn dark in here." Oscar stated, wielding an axe as he walked behind the redneck and the juvie.

Daryl looked over his shoulder at him, "Gotta hold it up high out in front of you."

"You're gonna hear them before you see them." Duncan added as Oscar nodded his head and lifted his axe up a bit.

They walked further into the hallways for a few seconds until they heard the undead heading towards them. Axel made sure to quickly declare, "It's coming!"

"Shhh!" Rick shushed him.

"You need to be more quiet." Chef told Axel, receiving a small nod in response from the bearded man.

Daryl and Duncan raised their hands in the air, telling the group following them to stop. The saw the shadow of was a walker on the wall in front of them. One walker came out from corner shorty after and immediately saw the people in front it. It started to head towards the group and it was quickly joined by another walker. The prisoners screamed as they charged at them, beginning to attack the walkers and hitting them across their bodies, not even aiming for the heads.

Rick, Daryl, T-Dog, Chef, Chris, Izzy, Alejandro and Duncan exchanged a look with each other as they simply watched how the prisoners proceeded to hit the undead over and over again.

"Should we do something?" Alejandro asked, staring weirdly at the prisoners.

* * *

Glenn wrapped the chain of a watch that Hershel gave to him back on the farm, as everyone that was in the cell block at this moment watched unconsciouss Hershel on the bunk bed. They turned their attention away from him when they heard someone enter the cell block. Harold, Leshawna, Ezekiel, Cody and Sierra had returned from their search for any medical supplies.

Ezekiel held the silenced pistol out to Carl, giving it back to him, "Thanks for borrowing it to me."

"No problem." Carl nodded his head at the homeschool, "Glad I could help in some way."

"Eh, I really need get something like that on my pistol." Ezekiel stated.

Bridgette stood up from her kneeling position and approached them, "You came back."

"Did you find anything?" Carol asked them, hoping that they found something.

Cody smiled as he dropped the duffel bag on the floor, making Carol gasp at the view of everything they brought from the infirmary, "We sure did."

Leshawna smiled as well, "The infirmary had everything we needed."

"Did you had any problems?" Gwen wanted to know

"Not really." Harold answered, "There were only two walkers there. Zeke took them out in a matter of seconds."

Sierra pointed at Hershel, "How is he doing? Did something changed about his state?"

DJ shook his head sadly, "We managed to stop the bleeding but he's still not waking up."

"Good thing you returned with this stuff." Bridgette said, pulling out a bandage from the bag. She started wrapping it around Hershel's wound, "We're going to need it."

* * *

The group that was clearing out another cell block continued to make their way through the hallway. They stopped and readied themselves for another fight with the undead when they heard another group coming their way.

Izzy held her hunting knife in ready as she said, "Remember to aim for the brain."

One walker came out from the corner and Daryl fired his arrow right towards it's hide, getting rid of the undead to demostrate the prisoners what to do, "Not the stomach, not the heart-the brain."

"I hear you two." Axel nodded his head, "The brain."

Another walker approached them and Oscar stepped towards it, placing his axe in the middle of it's head, before moving back to the group, "Like that?"

Izzy nodded in confirmation, "Yes."

More walkers started heading their way. Axel quickly made his way to one to one of them and stabbed the undead right through it's head with his metal rod as Alejandro placed his tomahawk right in the middle of the head of another walker. Duncan loaded an arrow into his bow just seconds before firing the arrow at the walker, hitting it right in the head as Chris moved past him towards another walker, placing his knife right in it's brain.

Rick stepped forward and stabbed another walker through it's head before moving back to his group, "Stay in tight formation. No more prison riot crap."

A group of walkers came towards them and everyone started attacking them, doing their best to take them out as fast as they could. Only one person remained in the back, not doing anything. Big Tiny watched how his fellow prisoners and a group of people that he just met fought off the undead before stepping away from them. He spotted another walker approaching him from the other side and he quickly slammed his hammer right on top of it's head, making it stumble backwards.

Another walker approached him as Big Tiny slammed his hammer right on it's head. The walker stumbled backwards a bit, before moving towards the giant prisoner again. Big Tiny hit it in the head with his hammer, once again, this time killing it as the walker he attacked earlier rose up from the ground, pulling his hand free from the handcuffs, ending up ripping his entire hand in the procees.

Big Tiny didn't had a chance to spot it in time as the walker ran his hand through his shoulder, brusing it, making the giant prisoner wince in pain as Chef came in his rescue and finished the walker off. Big Tiny send him a grateful nod and touched his shoulder, only to see some blood on his hand.

* * *

DJ had just finished wrapping bandage around Hershel's leg, as she turned to look at everyone else in the cell, "These bandages will help prevent infection."

"It's good." Noah nodded his head at the lovable giant, "It's good that he taught you all this stuff."

"He didn't teach me everything." DJ answered, sadly.

Bridgette looked at Carol and the two of them shared a quick look with each other. The short haired woman nodded her head at the surfer who stood up, "Glenn, Noah, I need your help with something."

"Now?" Noah asked her, "Not the best time."

The surfer nodded her head, "Now."

She stood up from the floor and walked out of the cell, walking past Glenn and Noah who followed her, the asian man asking, "What is it?"

"There's something I need to practice before Lori will go into labor." Bridgette explained.

* * *

Chris shined his flashlight right at Big Tiny's wound, allowing Rick to take a good look at it. The sheriff deputy quickly realized that it was the scratch was placed on a part of the body that couldn't be amputated, without resulting in the death of the giant prisoner.

Big Tiny turned around to look at them, panic was obvious in his voice, "I'm telling you, I don't feel anything. It's just a scratch."

"I'm sorry, man." Rick shook his head.

"I can keep fighting!" Big Tiny told him.

"You cut that old guy's leg off to save his life." Andrew pointed out.

Chris shook his head, "You saw where is bite is. "

"If we'll try to cut it out, we may end up killing him." Izzy pointed out, standing next to Andrew.

"Guys, I'm fine! I'm fine." Big Tiny insisted, shaking his head in panic, "Look at me-I'm not changing into one of those things."

"Look,man, there has to be something we can do." Oscar stated, "We could just lock him up."

"Quarantine him." Axel suggested.

"We gotta do something." Andrew declared as he looked at Rick, "Why you just standing there? We gotta save him."

"You heard them." Rick told the youngest prisoner, "There's nothing we can do."

Andrew glared at him, "You son of a bitch."

"I'm all ri..." Big Tiny didn't had a chance to finish as Tomas slammed his crowbar right on top of his head. The giant prisoner collapsed on the floor as Tomas proceeded to bring his crowbar down on his head, while the others just watched in completely silence. Tomas stopped when there was nothing but a bloody mush left of Big Tiny's head. His entire face was covered in blook as he looked at Rick, heavy breaths leaving his mouth.

* * *

Bridgette, Glenn and Noah were outside of the prison, walking along the fence, earning attention of a few walkers that attempted to approach them, but were stopped by the fence.

The surfer eyed the walkers, and pointed at the one wearing yellow dress, "That one."

"Are you sure about this?" Glenn asked her.

"Just the thought of what I am about to do makes me feel sick in my stomach, but this is something I have to do." Bridgette told him, "She had Carl by C-section. She's probably gonna have to have this one the same way. Hershel had a little bit of experience with this kind of thing, but he's not gonna be able to do it anymore. After him, I'm the one with the most medical experience, I need experience and we have plenty of cadavers."

Noah turned away from the walker at the surfer, "Do you think you can do it?"

"I hope so." Bridgette nodded his head to that, "I need to learn how to cut through the abdomen and the uterus without cutting the baby."

The bookworm moved towards the walker that Bridgette pointed and stuck his knife through the fence, killing it, as Glenn started distracting the other undead away from Noah and Bridgette who quickly started to untie the wire that was holding the fence together.

* * *

Everyone walked along the hallway. Rick, Daryl, Chef and Chris walked together in the back, having a small talk about Tomas.

"You see the look on his face?" Daryl asked to which Rick nodded in response.

"This guy is a danger to us all." Chris stated.

"He makes one move, just give one of us a signal." Chef added.

T-Dog looked behind him at Alejandro, Izzy and Duncan and nodded his head at them, telling them to get teady. He opened the doors to the laundry room, and all four of them entered it right after, ready to face off every walker in their way, but luckilly, the laundry room was completely empty. The others quickly followed them inside and made their way to the locked doors.

Daryl pulled out some keys and tossed them to Tomas, "I ain't opening that."

"Yes, you are. If you want this cell block, you're gonna open that door." Chef told him.

"Just the one, not both of them. Because we need to control this." Rick explained.

Tomas picked up the keys and exchanged a look with Andrew, before moving towards the locked doors. Everyone started readying themselves while Tomas unlocked the doors, "You bitches ready?"

He grabbed the handles and opened both of the doors, not just one like Rick told him to, "I said one door!"

"Shit happens!" Tomas answered as the undead began entering the laundry room.

Everyone started to fight them off, taking out every walker heading towards them. There weren't having much of a trouble with them until Tomas swung his crowbar dangerously close to Rick who barely managed to avoid it. It wasn't over. One walker lunged for Tomas who pushed it off himself towards Chris who was taken by suprise. The host of Total Drama struggled against the undead as it brought him to the floor, until Izzy came in his rescue and placed her knife right in the walkers head.

Chris pushed the now dead walker off him as Izzy held her hand out to him. He accepted it, and brought himself back on his feet with the help of the orange haired teenager, glaring at Tomas who brought his crowbar down on the head of approaching walker while the rest of the group took out all of the walkers.

Rick walked over to Tomas who shifted his attention between him and host of Total Drama, "Sorry, guys. It was coming at me."

"I get it." Rick glared at him, "Shit happens."

He was about to reach for his machete but stopped when when a shot echoed across the laundry room and Tomas' body fell on the floor, with a hole right between his eyes. Everyone turned in the direction from which the shot came from and saw Chris holding his now smoking Glock out. The host of Total Drama didn't had any seconds thoughts about what he just did. He did that to protect his group, just like a few months ago when he had to kill a man to protect Glenn, Hershel and DJ. Tomas was a danger to all of them.

Rick wasn't going to do anything about it. He was going to do the same thing, anyway. He heard Andrew scream and move towards Chris, with only one intention of attacking him, but the sheriff deputy stopped him in time. He kicked the youngest prisoner in the stomach, bringing him to the floor.

Chef aimed his shotgun at Andrew, "Easy now. Don't do anything stupid like your friend did."

Andrew quickly got himself back on his feet and ran into the hallways as Rick broke himself into run after him, "I got him."

"Get down on your knees." Daryl ordered, aiming his crossbow at Oscar. T-Dog, Chef, Chris, Duncan, Alejandro and Izzy aimed their weapons at the remaining prisoners as well.

Oscar got himself on his knees, not saying anything. Axel fell on his knees too, but unlike his inmate, didn't kept his mouth shut, "We don't have no affiliation to what just happened. Tell him, Oscar."

"Stop talking, man." Oscar told him.

Andrew continued to run through the hallways, knowing that Rick was just meters away from him. The sheriff deputy thought he had lost the young prisoner for a second, but quickly got back on his trail when he heard him open some doors on his left. He quickly went in the direction from which the sound came from, hearing how Andrew shut the doors behind him, as the sheriff deputy ran up a set of stairs.

He quickly opened the doors, and saw Andrew running into a closed area with a few walkers. The young prisoner looked around himself, and quickly turned back to the doors, beginning to run towards it, but he never made it through the doors as Rick closed it before he had a chance.

"Let me back in, man." Andrew pleaded him, "Let me back in!"

"You better run." Rick simply told him.

Andrew turned away from and started running away from the undead as Rick started to make his way back to his group, hearing the young prisoner screaming for a few seconds behind him. The screams stopped and Rick quickly got an idea of what happened to Andrew.

* * *

Maggie, Carol, Lori and DJ were kneeling in front of Hershel, watching him, before all of them noticed that something was wrong with him. DJ pressed his hand against Hershel's lungs, and his eyes widened when he saw that Hershel was not breathing.

"Guys." He turned to them, "He's not breathing."

"What?" Beth asked, running into the cell panic. He placed her hand on Hershel's lungs, to find out that DJ was not wrong, "Do something! Somebody help!"

Lori instantly reacted to that and started doing the first thing that came into her mind. She placed hand on Hershel's chin, opening his mouth. She pressed her mouth against his lips and started to breath in, perfoming a CPR on him. She then placed her hands together, and started to press them against Hershel's chest. She pressed her hands several times, before moving towards Hershel's mouth again, intending to breathe in two times.

Her eyes snapped open when Hershel jolted awake, wrapping his arm around her shoulder as everyone in the room panicked. Lori quickly freed herself from his grasp. She stepped away from him along with DJ, Carol, Maggie and Beth as Carl aimed his pistol at Hershel, just in case as the farmer began breathing again.

* * *

Rick made his way back to the a laundry room where his group was waiting for him. All of them kept their weapons aimed at Axel and Oscar who were still on their knees.

"What are we going to do with them?" Alejandro asked as Rick entered the laundry room, keeping his pistol aimed at Axel.

"We had nothing to do with that." Oscar said, as Chef was aiming his shotgun right at his forehead.

"You didn't know? You knew." Rick stated, approaching Chef's side, "Guys, let's end this now."

"Sir, sir, you gotta listen to me, please!" Axel scremaed in pure panic, "It was them that was bad. It wasn't us!"

"Oh, ain't convenient." Rick stated, looking over his shoulder at Axel.

"You saw what he did to Tiny. He was my friend." Axel sounded on the verge of tears, "Please, we ain't like that. I like my pharmaceuticals, but I'm no killer. Oscar here, he's a B and E, and he ain't very good at it neither. We ain't the violent kind, they were! Please, I swear to god! I wanna live!"

Rick turned his attention back to Oscar as Chef was waiting for him to give him a signal, "What about you?"

"I ain't never pleaded for my life." Oscar responded, suprisingly calm, "And I ain't about to start now. So you do what you gotta do."

Rick turned to look at Chef. He shook his head and Chef knew what he meant by that. The co-host of Total Drama lowered his shotgun, and everyone followed his example and lowered their guns too. Axel let out a massive sigh of relief.

* * *

Everyone went straight to the cell block which they cleared out for the prisoner as part of the dell. Daryl opened the new cell block for the surviving prisoners as Rick pushed Axel in, the bearded man almost tripping on the floor as everyone else entered the cell block shorty after.

Duncan eyed his surroundings and saw several prisoners laying right in front of their cells, with bullet holes in their forehead, "What the hell happened here?"

Izzy shook her head, 'Nothing good."

"Good thing that our cell block didn't had anything like that." Alejandro stated.

"Oh, man." Axel said, his eyes wide in shock at the view of the corpses, "I knew these guys. These were good men."

Rick turned to face his group, "Let's go."

"So you're just gonna leave us in here?" Oscar asked as he looked at him, "Man,this is sick."

"We're locking down this cell block. From now on, this part of the prison is yours." RIck told him, "Take it or leave it. That was the deal."

"You think this is sick?" Izzy asked them, turning to the exit from the cell block, "You don't wanna know what's outside. You didn't had to watch how these things torn your loved one apart as you couldn't do anything to stop it."

Chef patted Axel on the shoulder, "Sorry about your friends."

"A word of advice." T-Dog said as Oscar and Axel looked at him, "Take those bodies outside and burn them."

* * *

They all made their way back to the cell block and headed towards Hershel's cell, intending to check on old farmer.

"Hershel stopped breathing." Carl said as Rick approached the cell, "Mom saved him."

Cody nodded in confirmation, "It's true."

Rick entered the cell and took a good look at Hershel, as his wife told him, "Still no fever."

Her husband nodded his head to that. Everyone just stared at Hershel for several seconds until they saw him open his mouth. Maggie's eyes snapped open as she leaned in a bit, waiting for her father to open his eyes, to give them a sign that he was alive, not turning into a walker. His eyes slowly opened. He was alive.

"Daddy?" Maggie said, feeling how relief overcame her entire body.

Beth smiled, "Daddy."

DJ placed his hand on Hershel's shoulder. He was happy that his friend was still alive, "It's good to see you alive, man."

Rick quickly uncuffed Hershel as the old farmer lifted his hand out to him. Rick got himself on his knee and grabbed it, glancing over at Hershel's daughter who were crying tears of hapiness as they held each other close. The rest of the group could feel smiles forming on their lips, as they were simply happy that Hershel survived.

* * *

Rick and Lori stood together in front of the fence, watching the open fields of the prison and the forest in front them. The sheriff deputy spoke up to his wife, "We'll start cleaning tomorrow."

"Yeah." Lori nodded her head, "We'll give Carl a safe place to do whatever he does these days."

"For the record, I don't think you're a bad mother." Rick told her.

Lori looked down at her belly, letting out a small bittersweet, "Well, wife is a different story. For better or worse, right? I mean, what are we gonna do-hire lawyers and get divorced and split our assets? We got food, medicine, Hershel's alive. Today was a good day."

"He'd be dead if it weren't for you." Rick stated, turning to look at his wife.

"You're the one that acted fast." Lori pointed out, "If you hadn't done what you did, then...I thought maybe you were coming out here to talk about us. Maybe there's nothing to talk about anymore."

Rick placed his hand on Lori's shoulder, "We're awful grateful for what you did."

* * *

Sierra was having trouble falling asleep, once again. She didn't know why she was having so much trouble sleeping. Perharps Cody and Harold were right. Maybe it was really caused the fact that she was sleeping on a bunk bed instead of a car seat or the ground and she already gotten used to sleeping on either of those things.

She breathed in as she came out of the cell block, being greeted by the darkened sky of the night. Perharps a quick walk around the area that was secured by her group would be a good thing for her. Maybe it will make her fall asleep faster. She didn't left the cell block completely weaponless. She had her knife placed right in her pocket. She didn't took her pistol with herself because she was certain she won't have the need to use it during her short walk.

The superfan walked up the stairs leading to some sort of small bridge between the buildings of the prison. She stopped in the middle of the bridge and lifted her gaze up at the moon. She could hear how the walkers walked on the other side of the fence behind her, but she wasn't that worried about that. The gates were held together by a chain, and she knew that it was going to hold them for enough for her group to take care of the undead on the other side of it. After all, the same chain held the gate leading to the yard for the entire night, allowing her and her group to spend the night on the field.

Despise everything that happened today, Hershel getting bitten and almost dying, and the incident with the prisoners, she couldn't help but feel quite optimistic about this place. It had food, walls, fences, a lot of space for everyone, and if Hershel wasn't wrong, the soil was good, and they will be able to grow food. This place had everything her group needed to survive. This place had everything it needed to became their new home.

Sierra spend the next several minutes simply watching the moon. She knew that it was time to return to bed, or bunk bed in this situation. The group still had a lot of work ahead of them, and she'd like to help them secure their new place to live, in one way or another, even if it will be just cleaning the prison from the corpses of the undead.

She walked down the stairs and was about to head back to the cell block, but stopped when she heard a quiet voice say to her, "Hey."

She turned back and her eyes snapped open when she saw Andrew who was wielding a huge knife standing in front of her, instantly recalling Rick, Chef, Chris and Daryl telling her and the rest that the sheriff deputy had to kill him and Tomas. She quickly reached for her knife, but Andrew practically shoved herself at her in the exact moment when she grabbed it, causing her to drop her knife on the ground.

She clenched her teeth as she struggled against Andrew who pressed her against the wall, his hateful gaze staring right into her eyes. She was running out of options here and Andrew was much stronger than her, so she did he first thing that came into her mind. She headbutted him, making him stumble a few steps backwards.

She was about to break herself into run and cry out for help, but it unfortunely for her never happened. The superfan gasped for a breath, when she felt how Andrew's knife pierced through her neck. The last thing that Sierra ever saw was Andrew simply watching how blood started to paint her neck and his knife, before she closed her eyes, for the last time and never opened them again.

Andrew let out a deep exhale as he put his knife out from Sierra's neck. He simply watched how her lifeless body collapsed on the ground, her blood slowly painting it. He stabbed her in the head, making sure that she wasn't going to return as a walker. The prisoner made sure to pick up her knife and place it in one of the pockets of his jumpsuit, to not leave any evidence that she was there. Blood stains on the ground will surely be a problem but he'll find a way how to get rid of them. After all he had the entire night to prepare everything.

He grabbed her body by her shoulders and started dragging her body into more isolated area of the prison, knowing that he had to hide her body otherwise her group will find out about her fate faster than he wanted them to. It would only ruin his plans.

He will retake his home from the people that stole it from him and his fellow inmates and killed Tomas.

He will make sure of that...

* * *

**Welp, Sierra is the next one to go. At first I was planning to kill her off during the fall of the farm (She'd be killed by the walkers in Dale's RV along with Jimmy), but I scrapped that idea and let her live two more chapters and reveal that Andrew is still alive and is planning re-take the prison from Rick's group and avenge Tomas' death, which will lead us to the events of episode 4.**


	22. Walk With Me

An army helicopter was flying above the fields during a sunny day in the direction of the forest. The people who were inside of it were just a group of soldiers who managed to survive to this point.

The pilot of the aircraft grabbed a small microphone on his helmet and called out, "Whiskey-1-2. Whiskey-1-2, do you copy?"

"Gonna 180, close the distance." The other pilot declared, "Get back in contact."

He did exactly what he said he was going to do. He started turning the helicopter in the direction, unaware of what was going to happen in the next few seconds. The aircraft started to shake widly as every soldier inside grabbed into something, waiting for the turbulence to end, hearing the sound of beeping which stopped only a few seconds later.

"Have faith,guys." One of the pilots assured his fellow soldiers, "I've got us through a lot worse than some light turbulence."

He had no idea how wrong he was and he found out about that just a second later. The wings broke and dark smoke started coming out of it. Both of the pilots were doing his best to steady the helicopter and make sure they and their fellow soldiers were going to make it to the ground in one piece, but their tries turned out to be completely pointless.

"We're going in hard!" The pilot declared.

It was the last thing that his fellow soldiers heard from him before the aircraft crashed into the forest, ripping through the tress as if they were nothing until it stopped, the members of the crew being either unconsciouss or dead.

* * *

Andrea and Courtney stared at the forest from and the smoke which was coming out of it, having a chance to witness how the helicopter crashed there. Michonne was with them and witnessed it as well. She pulled the chain holding her walkers forward a bit, and stopped right next her traveling companions, staring at the forest in front of them.

The blond haired woman shifted her glances between the CIT and the dark skinned woman, "What should we do?"

"We should go and see if someone survived." Courtney suggested, from the tone of her voice it was obvious to say that she was tired.

The CIT looked and Andrea and then at Michonne, exchanging a look with each of them, just seconds before she and Andrea started walking towards the place where the aircraft crashed. Michonne watched them for a moment before following them into the forest, her two walkers which were carrying all of their stuff on their backs walking closely behind her.

It took them several minutes to make it to the crash site. They all stopped a few meters in front of the helicopter, or rather what remained of it and eyed it for. Courtney let out one tired breath after another, as Andrea hung her head low, almost falling off her feet as she threw up all of over the ground. The CIT came over to her and placed her hand on her shoulder.

"Don't push yourself, both of you." Michonne told them, knowing how exhausted they were. She and Courtney brought Andrea back on her feet and placed her on the ground behind a bush. She then looked at Courtney who sat down next to Andrea, "You'd better sit. I'll check it out."

She came over to the nearest tree and tied her chain around it, making sure her walkers weren't going to get away with their stuff. She took out Andrea's and Courtney's pistols from the bag and handed it to them. She slowly started making her way to the remains of the helicopter, making sure to be careful about everything around her.

She made her way to the remains and stared in disgust at the view of a young soldier that the impact of the explosion cut in the half, leaving his insides visible to everyone. She placed her hand on the handle of her katana as she started to investigate the crash site more, only to see two trucks heading their way. It could have been more soldiers or another group who just like them happened to be nearby during the crash.

She quickly turned back to the place where she left Andrea and Courtney and eve quicker made her way back to them. She crouched down next to them, "Someone's coming."

"Any survivors?" Andrea wanted to know.

"Two dead, not sure about the other." Michonne answered.

"Who are these people?" Courtney asked as these unknown people parked their vehicles in front of the crash site.

Michonne shook her head, "I don't know."

Everyone had gotten out of their vehicles and one of the men, apparently the leader, ordered, "Fan out."

Courtney, Andrea and Michonne simply observed how these people split around the crash site. One of these people, an asian man, aimed his silenced pistol at the approaching walker and was about to get rid of it, but was stopped by a spanish young man, who was wearing a blue shirt, "Don't do it, amigo. It will just a waste of ammo."

He took out his knife and walked over to the walker approaching him and the people he was with. He kicked the undead right in the knee, bringing it down to the ground, before finishing it off with a simple stab to it's head. He turned back to the people from his group and went back to checking the area around them, as another man, a black skinned man with a beard fired an arrow from his bow at another walker, killing it.

They spotted two more walkers heading towards this unknown group, but they weren't much a threat to them as another spanish man easily took them out with his baseball bat, blood splattering all over the ground.

"Got a breather. Tim!" The leader of this group declared, "Help me out here."

The asian man Michonne, Courtney and Andrea spotted a few moment earler walked over to this man and helped him to take the wounded man out from the front of the helicopter. The dark skinned woman turned away from the helicopter when she heard some snarling behind her and the other two to see a walker approaching them.

She reached for her sword but Courtney stopped her from killing it, "No. Let them take care of it."

Michonne let go off her sword as they simply watched how the undead walked right past them, as another one of these unknown people spotted it and called out to the black man with a bow, "Over here, Shumpert."

The response to that was immediate and Shumpert released an arrow from his bow which hit the walker right in it's head, killing it for good as it's lifeless body collapsed on the ground while Tim and the leader whose name still remained unknown managed to take the wounded soldier out from the remains of the aircraft and started dragging him towards one of their trucks.

"He's saving them." Courtney observed

"We should show ourselves." Andrea stated, to which Courtney nodded in agreement.

"Not, yet." Michonne stated as the leader stopped dragging the soldier and let go off him when he spotted something in front of him and Tim. The soldier that Michonne saw just a few seconds ago, the one that was cut in the half had changed into a walker. He pulled out his his knife and brought it down on the undead soldiers' head.

They turned away from these unknown people when they heard how Michonne's walkers were wanting to take a step forward, but the chain was preventing them from doing so. A a man wielding a machine rifle aimed it right in their direction as everyone else from his group seemed to spot it as well. Michonne knew what she had to do if she didn't want to be spotted. She took out her katana and sliced the head of her walkers off their bodies.

The walkers fell on their knees as Michonne went back to Andrea and Courtney while the unknown group proceeded to stare in their direction for a few more seconds before the leader declared, "Let's roll out."

Everyone were starting to leave, as Michonne lowered her guard a bit, but it quickly rose up again when she realized that someone was behind her, Andrea and Courtney when she heard a branch snap. She raised her sword in the air but stopped in the mid-air when a voice spoke up to her.

"Uh-uh-uh. Easy does it, girl. Mine's a whole lot bigger than yours." The voice said to her as Michonne started to lower her blade. Courtney didn't know why, but she couldn't get rid of the feeling that she heard this voice before instantly after this unknown man spoke up. Michonne placed her blade on the ground as the man ordered, "Now spin around."

Michonne clenched her teeth as she turned around to face this unknown man. Courtney and Andrea turned to look at him too, a bit slower, only to be met with a face that belonged to no other than Merle Dixon. Someone that they left behind handcuffed to a pipe on the roof back in Atlanta. Someone that they thought they will never see again.

"Holy shit." Merle immediately grinned at the view of two familiar faces in front of him as Andrea and Courtney only stared at him in completely shock, not believing their eyes. The older Dixon was unaware that there was a walker coming right towards him, "Blondie and CIT. Damn, you're looking good."

The walker made it's way to Merle, who easily took it's with his other hand which was replaced by a huge knife. He stood up, offering the familiar faces in front of him a huge grin, "Now, how's about a big hug for your old pal Merle?"

Courtney and Andrea stared at him for a few more seconds, before both of them collapsed on the ground almost in unison, unconscious.

* * *

Andrea and Courtney had no idea how much time has passed since they lost their consciousness, but when they woke up they found themselves in a room which looked like a infimary where they were introduced to a woman who was simply called Doctor Stevens by the others. She was starting to check on them, well, mostly on Andrea and Courtney who were in a much worse state than Michonne was.

"Why are we being held here?" Andrea asked Doctor Stevens, "We want to leave."

"You're not well enough. And it's dark." Stevens answered, "You should stay the night."

"Where are we?" Courtney asked as she sat next between Andrea and Michoone, "I've been asking this question since we woke up."

"That's not for me to say." Stevens replied, "He'll talk to you."

"Who?" Michonne wanted to know as she stared up at Doctor Stevens.

The door opened and Merle Dixon entered the room, the blond haired woman and the CIT instantly looked at him, "Go check on your patient, doc. Bet you was wondering if I was real. Probably hoping I wasn't. Well, here I am."

Stevens walked out of the room as Merle took a nearby chair and sat down on it, his eyes on the women he found in the forest, "I guess this old world gets a little smaller toward the end, huh? Ain't so many of us left to share the air, right? You know, when they found me, I was near bled out. Starving. Thinking to myself a bullet might make a good last meal. Take myself a nice long nap after. Wait for Daryl on the other side. You seen my brother?"

Andrea shook her head, "Not for a long time."

"We got separated from the rest." Courtney added as Andrea gave a small nod of confirmation.

Merle chuckled, "Makes three of us."

"He went back for you. Him and Rick and a few other people from our camp." Andrea explained, "You were already gone."

"Well." Merle chuckled as he took off his weapon, revealing his decapitated hand, as Andrea and Courtney cringed at the view, "Not all of me."

Andrea shook her head in disgust, "Oh, god."

"You didn't had to show it to us, you know?" Courtney told him, as she turned away, not wanting to look at Merle's hand.

The older Dixon let out another chuckled at their reactions, "Yeah, Rick. He's that prick that cuffed me to the rooftop."

"Yeah. He tried. Daryl saw that." Andrea told him.

"He's always been the sweet one, my baby brother." Merle stated, putting his weapon back on his hand as Courtney turned her gaze back to him.

"He wanted to keep looking, but things happen, a lot of them." Courtney said, the memories of everything that happened after Merle got separated from the group popping into her mind.

"People died. A lot of them. Jim, Lindsay, Dale, Jacqui, Owen, Sophia." Andrea paused for a moment when this person came into her mind, "...Amy."

"Your sister?" Merle asked her.

Andrea gave him a tearfull nod of confirmation, "Yes."

"She was a good kid." Merle stated, "I'm sorry to hear it."

"There were more. A lot more." Courtney continued, seeing that Andrea was staying silent, "We had to leave Atlanta. We wound up on a farm. Daryl stepped up. Became a valued member of the group. He and Duncan both risked their lives attempting to find Sophia."

"Duncan?" Merle asked, "This juvie who was going hunting with him along with that crazy girl? The guy you spend a lot of time with?"

"Yes." Courtney nodded her head in confirmation, "I don't know what happened to either of them. We got run off by a herd."

"How long ago?" Merle asked her.

"It was about seven, or eight months ago. We were separated from the rest of them." Courtney explained, "Got left behind."

"What do you want from us?" Andrea wanted to know from Merle.

Merle shook his head and got up from his chair, "There she sits,four walls around her, roof over her head, medicine in her veins, and she wants to know what I want from her. I plucked you and your mute here out of the dirt, blondie. Saved your asses. How about a thank you?"

"You had a gun on us." Michonne pointed out, finally speaking up.

"Ooh, she speaks." Merle laughed as Michonne glared at him, "Who ain't had a gun on 'em in the past year,huh? Show of hands, y'all. Anybody? Hmm?" He turned away from them to look at the two men standing on guard, "Shumpert, Crowley. Y'all had a gun on y'all?" He scoffed as he turned back to Andrea, Michonne and Courtney, "Hell...I think I'd piss my pants if some stranger come walking up with his mitts in his pockets. That'd be the son of a bitch you'd really want to be scared of..."

Andrea cut him off, "Thank you."

"For taking us out of this forest." Courtney added her part as well as Michonne gave them a look.

Merle nodded his head as he stepped away from them towards the exit as the leader entered the infimary. He whispered something to Merle who answered with a quiet, "Sure thing."

The leader looked at Courtney, Andrea and Michonne, "How are you feeling?"

"We want our weapons." Michonne told him.

"Sure." The leader nodded his head, "On your way out the front gates."

"Show us the way." Andrea told him, as the leader looked at her and the CIT.

"You've kept us locked up in this room." Courtney added.

"You see any bars on the windows?" The leader pointed out, gesturing towards the windows, "You're being cared for."

Courtney pointed at Crowley and Shumpert, "Under guard."

"To protect our people." The leader explained, "We don't know you."

"We know enough about you to want out of this place." Andrea pointed out in return, "We watched you drive a knife into the skulls of two dead men. What the hell was that all about?"

She didn't had to wait long for the answer, "They turned."

"How?" Courtney asked, "I assume that they died from the crash, not from the infection."

The leader shifted his glance between all of the people from his group in this room before answering, knowiing that these three didn't know the truth, ""Doesn't matter. However we die, we all turn. I put them out of their misery."

"What?" Courtney asked as she, Andrea and Michonne stared at him in shock after hearing this revelation, "You're telling us that no matter how we die, we all turn into those things?"

Merle nodded in confirmation, "It is exactly what he is saying, CIT."

The leader stepped forward towards Shumpert and Crowley, "It's not easy news to swallow at first, but there it is. You're not prisoners here, you're guests. If you want to leave, as I said, you're free to do so. But we don't open the gates past dusk. Draws too much attention." He pointed at Andrea and Courtney, "And you two especially, you two need a solid night's sleep. You wouldn't last another day out there in your condition." He turned away from them and stopped in the doorway of the exit from ths room, "Have you brought over to my place in the morning. Return your weapons. Extra ammo, food for the road,some meds,keys to a vehicle if you want one. Send you on your way. No hard feelings."

He walked out of the room and everyone followed him. He lead them to the exit from this building and opened it, revealing an entire town to them, "Welcome to Woodbury."

Courtney and Andrea were the first ones to exit the building after him and they couldn't believe their eyes the moment they set them on the building. This entire place looked like it wasn't touched by everything that happened in the recent months like any other place they have been in after the fall of the farm. Michonne joined their side and observed her surroundings as well.

"Amigos." They turned in the direction of the voice to see a handsome spanish young man they saw earlier in the crash site approaching them, "I see that the ones we found in the forest are doing much better, now. Doctor Stevens did her magic once again."

"As you can see, Jose." Merle nodded his head in confirmation at the man who was apparently named Jose as he came over to this man's side. He turned to look at Courtney and Andrea, intending to introduce this man to them, "Blondie, CIT. This one here is Jose Burromuerto."

Andrea titled her head, recalling she heard that last name before, "Burromuerto?"

"Jose?" Courtney asked, "Ain't that?..."

"It is." Merle nodded in confirmation before the CIT could even finish, already knowing what she was going to say, "It is the older brother of our good old Al."

Jose smirked, giving them a small bow, "I see that my hermano mentioned me to you."

"He didn't say much about you." Courtney told him. The only time when Alejandro mentioned him was when he explained to everyone why he didn't want to be called Al.

"It's still better than nothing." Jose shrugged his shoulders, as he turned to look at the leader, "Philip, I see that you you're giving them a small tour around our town. Mind if I tag along?"

Philip nodded his head, offering him a smile, "You're free to join us, Jose."

They all started to walk towards the gate, and made their way to it a few moment later. Michonne stopped walking a few meters in front of the gate as Andrea, Courtney and Philip stopped right in front of it while Merle and Jose made their way up to the wall where three men were currently on the watch.

"Go relieve Pete at the back gate." Merle said to one of the men who nodded his head in understanding before hopping off the wall.

Jose turned to the man with a bow, "Amigo, take the spotlight."

Andrea looked at Philip, "Are you military?"

"Hardly." Philip smiled, "Couple of vets, but by and large we're self-trained."

"That's heavy artillery they're packing." Andrea stated.

"Some men arrive with guns, but most of the weapons are scavenged over time." Philip stated in return.

"What about the other side of town?" Courtney asked him. She hasn't seen anything like this in a long time, "The rest of the streets? They're all guarded like this? It can't be."

Philip nodded in confirmation, "It can and it is."

Merle whistled, making Philip look at him, "Got us a creeper, Governor."

"Governor?" Andrea asked him as Merle took the rifle from one of the men on the watch, "They call you that?"

"Some nicknames stick whether you want them to or not." Philip explained.

"Were you a Governor before all of this?" Courtney asked him.

Philip shook his head, "No. I was Middle-Management Employee."

"People simply started calling him like that and he went along with it." Jose explained, standing on the wall next to Merle as Shumpert started to shine some light at the walker heading towards their town, giving them a pretty good look at it.

Philip let out a small chuckle at Jose's explanation, "Jose is one of the people that helped me built this place. He's been a good friend of mine for a while."

Merle pulled the trigger and his the machine rifle fired. The bullet hit the undead right in it's head, sending it's body on the ground, "Got him."

Two more walkers started to come out from the shadows and Jose made sure to declared it quickly, "He brought more of them. You know what to do, Merle."

Merle started firing the rifle, taking out the undead one by one. Only a moment had to pass until two more bodies were added to the area on the other side of the gate. He turned to look at the Governor, "Clear."

"We'll get them in the morning." He declared as Andrea and Courtney looked at him, "Can't leave them to rot. Creates an odor. Makes people uneasy."

"There's more people here?" Courtney asked him, to which Philip offered her a nod of his head.

"There's nobody here." Andrea stated. "It's a ghost town."

"They must be sleeping." Courtney stated.

"This way." Philip said as he pushed himself into walk, once again as Andrea, Michonne and Courtney followed him as Merle and Jose remained on the wall. He took them to a room where the newcomers were going to sleep tonight, as the three women made sure to eye everything in there, "You'll be more comfortable here. Not the Four Seasons,but there's a hot shower. Water's limited, so keep it short. We got food,water, fresh clothes. Hope this works."

Michonne walked past him and started searching through the room, looking for only one thing, "I know you'd feel better with your sword,more secure, but you're safe here."

"We appreciate it." Courtney said, as she sat down on the bed. She paused. This bed felt so comortable. She could have sworn she was seconds away from tearing up at the feeling of something she didn't felt for months. She was certain she'd be sleeping on the floor or the ground for the rest of her days. She felt like tonight she was going to have the best sleep she had in a long time.

"What about the pilot?" Andrea asked as she sat down next to Courtney, now understanding her reaction, "Will he make it?"

"Well, is doing all she can." Philip explained, "Now, I know you got a lot more questions, but I got work to do. My man will be outside the door if you need anything else. I'll see you tomorrow."

* * *

The next day, Andrea, Courtney and Michonne were walking through the streets of Woodbury that were filled with other people. Andrea and Courtney couldn't help but be more in awe of this place. Everything here felt so normal, as if the walkers never happened.

"It's real." Andrea stated, staring in awe at the people around her.

"It feels so strange to see how many people walking through the streets." Courtney added, watching how children were happily playing with each other.

Andrea nodded in agreement, "Yeah."

"You three were out there for a long time." The woman who was giving them a tour around the town spoke up. She introduced herself to them as Rowan, "While you were, The Governor was doing this."

"How many people do you have here?" Courtney wanted to know.

"73." Rowan answered, "Eileen's about to pop,so her kid will make it 74. It's still a work in progress, but Rome wasn't built in a day."

"That's a bold comparison." Andrea stated.

"I think we've earned it." Rowan stated, "Walls haven't been breached in well over a month. We haven't suffered a casualty on the inside since early winter."

Courtney's eyes widened a bit, "How's that possible?"

"Our Governor set a strict curfew." Rowan began, "Nobody out after dark. Noise and light are kept to the bare minimum. Armed guards on the fence and patrolling the perimeter to keep the biters away."

"Not a single casualty since winter?" Andrea asked to which Rowan nodded in confirmation, "Tyler would like this place."

Rowan looked at the blond haired woman over her shoulder, "Tyler?"

"A friend of ours." Andrea replied, unaware that Tyler met his demise on the same day when she and Courtney got separated from their group, "He lost his girlfriend, and wanted to prevent the other people from sharing her fate. Many people questioned his methods of doing it, though, but I wasn't one of them."

Courtney wanted to add something from herself about Tyler, but decided to remain silent as Rowan continued to give them a tour around Woodbury.

* * *

The Governor stood over the bed on which the pilot who introduced himself as Lieutenant Welles that was saved by him and his people last day was placed. Doctor Stevens stood right next to him just in case if she is going to be needed.

Welles stared up at them as he began, "Things were orderly. The fences held. People were protected. Food and supplies were lasting. Then one of the men inside got bit. Not sure how. He went haywire. Panic swept through the camp. Someone opened the gate to escape,others were bitten and infected. Those people went crazy. The whole place went to hell in a few hours. My team grabbed whatever supplies and vehicles we could and abandoned our post."

He let out a few coughs as Philip asked him, "How many of you escaped?"

"There was 10 in my group." Welles explained, "We got maybe 60 miles from the post before getting jammed up on the highway. I took the bird up in the air to scout ahead. She took a beating in the riot, but we had no choice."

"Let me go find the rest. Bring them here where they'll be safe." Philip offered, "They're out there waiting for you exposed. Tell me where they are, and I promise,if they're still alive, I'll bring 'em in."

Welles nodded his head and gave the Governor the location of where the rest of his fellow soldiers should be, or at least where he thought they were going to be. Philip assured him that he'll bring them to Woodbury if he'll find them and exited the building. He made his way through the streets of Woodbury to another building where Merle and Jose were helping other member of his community, a man by the name of Milton Mamet with something.

"Did you finish your homework?" He asked Milton.

"Unfortunately, the dog's eating it already." Milton answered, pointing at Merle.

Jose sighed and rolled his eyes, knowing where this was going, "Here we go again."

Merle stopped what he was doing and glared at Milton, "What the hell you call me?"

"Hey, where are we, back in the school yard?" Philip shushed the Dixon, "What, you want to take his lunch money while you're at it?"

Merle was silent for a moment before saying, "Sorry, Governor."

"Maybe I've wasted my time with you." Philip stated, "Maybe you haven't learned anything at all."

He turned to look at Milton who quickly explained himself, "He was trying to smoke in here."

"Keep poking the bear and you're bound to get mauled. Remember that." Philip said as he turned his attention back to Merle. He approached him, "Tell me about the girls."

"Their names are Andrea and Courtney." Merle began.

Milton looked at him, "You know them?"

The Governor stopped in front of the Dixon, "They're from that group in Atlanta?"

"Yeah." Merle nodded, "Same one left me on the roof, forced me to mutilate myself."

"Does she know your brother Daryl?" Philip asked him another question.

Merle nodded in confirmation, "Yeah, she did."

The Governor turned to Jose, "And your brother Alejandro?"

Jose nodded in confirmation, "Yes."

"Then talk to her again. See what else you can find out." Philip said as he turned to look at Merle again. He nodded his head and walked out of the building right after.

"Should I go with him?" Jose offered.

"No. I have some other job for you." Philip explained, "The pilot we brought here woke up and told me where the rest of his group may be."

"Where is it?" Jose asked as Philip told him the locatiot that Welles gave him, "I see, I'll go tell Martinez and Shumpert that they should move out and check if they're still there."

Jose nodded before walking out of the building as well, leaving the Governor alone with Milton. The leader of Woodbury approached him, "Show me something."

Milton nodded and came up to one of the tables. He removed the blanket, revealing the headless corpse of one of Michonne's walkers, "Oh, pretty impressive,r eally. Major kudos for ingenuity. Take away their arms so they can't grab you. Take away their jaws so they can't bite you. Take away their ability to eat ,they lose interest in doing so. They're no longer in attack mode. We can be in their presence without threat. They become docile in a sense."

"Lurkers." Philip stated.

"Mm, docile." Milton titled his head, making Philip look at him, "Or lurkers. Or even muertos how Jose likes to call them."

"Why keep 'em?" Philip wanted to know.

"Repellent." Milton explained.

"Camouflage." Philip immediately understood what he meant by that. He touched the place of the walkers head where it's jaw used to be until Michonne cut it off, "Walk with the biters, they think you're a biter. Low profile. That's smart. They're still pretty thin. If they're not eating,why don't they starve?"

"They are starving." Milton pointed out, "They just do it slower than we do."

"Feels like we're trying to impose logic on chaos." Philip stated.

Milton nodded his head, "That is not a bad thing."

"No, but what does it buy us?" Philip asked him, "More questions, more theories, no answers."

"Not yet. If I could talk to those women..." Milton was interrupted.

The Governor cut him off, "Merle's handling it."

Milton sighed, "I don't want to question your judgement, Governor."

"Sure, you do." Philip said, offering him a small grin, "That's why I need you. That and your tea."

Milton gave him a short chuckle in response, "Ah. Well, then. With all due respect, letting Merle talk to those women unsupervised is a mistake. Now, you've always said every tool kit needs a hammer, but do you really feel the hammer is the right tool for that job?"

* * *

The Governor and Milton invited Andrea, Michonne and Courtney to the former's home for some breakfast. Jose was invited as well. He already told the people that were usually going out with them to check the location that Welles gave the Governor, just to be sure if his group was really there. The spanish young man found himself seated next to Milton, sipping some of the tea Milton prepared for everyone.

He patted Milton on his shoulder, "Milton, your tea is seriosly something you can die for."

Milton offered him a smile as Philip started approaching them, with some eggs that he cooked for everyone, "Eight months? Hard to believe you ladies lasted so long out there.."

"Because we're women?" Andrea asked as the Governor started putting some eggs on her plate.

"Because you were alone." Philip explained, moving to Courtney who sat next to Andrea.

"We had each other." Courtney told Philip as he started putting some eggs on her plate as well.

"Three against the world." Philip began as he placed some eggs on Michonne's plate right after he was done with Courtney, "It's long odds."

"We managed." Andrea told him.

Philip moved to Jose and placed some eggs on his plate as the spanish young man said, "We're impressed."

"Very." Milton added as Philip put some eggs in front of him.

"Survival in the wild is tough sledding." Philip said as he placed some eggs on his plate. He placed now empty pan aside before sitting down on his chair, "Wake up every morning on the ground wandering if today is the day. Will it be quick and final or slow and, well,without end? Will someone have the good sense to kill my brain,or will I come back as one of them?"

"Do you think they remember anything?" Milton asked them, "The person they once were?"

"I don't think about it." Andrea answered, beginning to eat her meal.

"Me too." Courtney nodded in agreement, digging in as well as Michonne remained silent. At least she started eating her food after a moment of staring at it.

Philip pointed at Milton, "Milton believes there might be a trace of the person they were still trapped inside."

"Like an echo." Milton explained what Philip meant by that, "Surely it must have crossed your mind."

"At one time, yeah." Andrea stated, "Right before it tried to bite me."

"We came across a man who thought that they were just sick people who needed help." Courtney added, the entire fiasco with Hershel's barn and everything that followed appearing in her mind, "But he stopped thinking like that about a certain incident."

"What happened?" Jose asked her, curiously as Milton looked at the CIT.

"It's a long story." Courtney answered, not really wanting to talk about the moment when Sophia and DJ's Momma stepped out of the barn.

Milton nodded in understanding as he turned to Andrea, " And then you killed it? I say "it" only because no one here likes to refer to them as him...or her." She turned to Michonne and cleared his throat, causing her to look at him, "The two you had in chains, who were they? The way you controlled them, used them to your benefit. You did know them, didn't you?"

Michonne stopped eating and just stared at Milton, not wanting to answer this question. Jose saw this and quickly spoke up, "Excuse my friend here, he may be the brain one of our three, but sometimes he really needs to think before he says something."

"My apologies." Milton apologized to Michonne before going back to his food.

"So what you have here, you expect it to hold?" Courtney asked, not being the fan of the idea of fighting her way through the herd again, "What if a herd comes through?"

"It'll hold." Philip gave her an assuring nod.

"What's your secret?" Andrea asked him.

Philip shrugged, "Really big walls."

Andrea and Courtney laughed at his response, before the former pointed out, "That soldier had walls, too,and we all know how that turned out."

"I guess we do." Philip nodded, "The real secret is what goes on within these walls. It's about getting back to who we were. Who we really are. They're just waiting to be saved. People here have homes,medical care, kids go to school, adults have jobs to do. There's a sense of purpose. We're a community."

"With a lot of guns and ammunition." Milton added.

"And people who were trained how to use them and are willing to do a lot to protect this place, and I'm one of them." Jose added his part as well.

Philip continued, "Compromise our safety, destroy our community, I'll die before I'll let that happen."

"Looks like you're sitting pretty at the end of the world." Andrea stated.

"Do I strike you as the kind of man who sits pretty?" Philip asked her, "You reap what you sow. We're the seed. Now winter has passed,i t's time to harvest."

Courtney looked up from her meal at him, "Time to hope, I assume?"

"We're going out there and we're taking back what's ours." Philip told her, "Civilization. We will rise again. Only this time we won't be eating each other."

Andrea and Courtney stared at him for a few seconds. They turned towards each other and exchanged a look before clinking their glasses, "To civilization, then."

It was when the sound of someone knocking on the doors rang through their ears. Philip excused himself and walked towards the doors before opening it, revealing Shumpert. He whispered something into his ear as the Governor nodded and closed the doors, offering everyone an apologetic smile, "Sorry to cut breakfast short, but this can't wait."

"Is that what I think it is?" Jose asked him.

Philip nodded in confirmation, "Yes.:

"Then, let's head out." Jose said, as he rose up from his seat, before walking over to Philip's side.

Michonne rose up from her seat right after him, "We want our weapons."

"Well, we can make this meal to go and your weapons will be waiting outside, but you should take time to relax. Get your strength back." Philip told her, "Have a look around. Who knows? You might like what you see."

* * *

A group of soldiers was minding their own things on a field not too far from the road when they saw a car heading their way. They quickly stopped what they were doing and took out their guns, readying themselves just in case of this person was going to be dangerous. They noticed the person holding out something white out of the window, which meant only one thing, but they kept their guard.

The vehicle stopped in front of them and Philip got out of it, "Hey, hey, hey, hey! Don't shoot!"

"Identify yourself." One of the soldiers demanded.

Philip held his hands in the air as he started approaching them, "We found your guy. Wells. Lieutenant Wells. His chopper went down."

"Where is he?" The soldier asked, now sounding worried for brother in arms.

"We got a little settlement. Now,he's badly hurt. But he's alive." Philip explained, coming towards him and the rest, "The other guys didn't make it, I'm sorry. But Wells,he told me I would find you here. Wants me to bring you to him."

The other soldier turned around to look at his fellow soldiers, "They found Wells. They got him. They found him."

"We sure did." Philip nodded his head as the soldiers in front of him seemed to be relieved and happy after hearing that he found Welles. He reached out for his pistol and aimed it at the soldier in front of him, "We found you, too."

He pulled the trigger and his pistol fired, the bullet hitting the soldier in front of him in the shoulder, bringing him to the ground. The soldiers didn't had a chance to react to this as Jose, Merle, Martinez, Shumpert, Crowley, and Tim who were hiding in the bushes for this whole time opened fire and started taking out the soldiers, one by one, as they didn't even had a chance to fire back.

It was just a matter of seconds until all of the soldiers laid on the ground, either dead or mortally wounded. Philip walked towards the soldiers, his expression set in stone and aimed his pistol at the soldier which he shot in the shoulder. The soldier weakly reached out to him as the Governor knelt down in front of him. He took the soldiers machine rifle away from him as his people started to make their way towards him.

He rose up from his knee and started to bring the back of the machine rifle down on the soldiers head, until he stopped moving. He exhaled and stared at the lifeless corpse of a soldier under him. He turned to look at Tim, who stood behind him, "Never waste a bullet, son, just like Jose told you yesterday." He gestured towards the bodies in front of him, "Pick up the rest of these weapons."

Tim nodded his head, "Yes, sir."

It was when one soldier who survived started running into the woods, and the Governor and his group quickly spotted him. Jose aimed his M4A1 rifle right at him, "I got it." He pulled the trigger and his M4A1 fired. The bullet hit the soldier right in the back, causing him to fall down on the ground. Jose pulled out his knife and held it out to Tim, "You know what to do, amigo."

Tim took the knife from the spanish young man and broke himself into run towards the soldier that Jose just shot as the Governor looked around his men and declared, "Let's see what Uncle Sam brought us, shall we?"

* * *

Later that day, everyone in Woodbury started to gather around the gate when they saw how the Governor, Jose, Merle, Martinez, Shumpert, Crowley and Tim had drove some army vehicles through the opened gate into their community, returning from their mission. Andrea and Courtney were one of them. They saw how Merle got himself out of the vehicle and came over to the Governor, Milton and Jose, trading a word with the leader of this community and the spanish young man before all of them parted ways.

Michonne watched suspociously from the background how the Governor hopped on top of the Humvee and declared loudly to the people of his community, "We brought in four new people yesterday. One was a helicopter pilot with a National Guard outfit. Even though he's clinging to life,he told us about his convoy on the highway, his men. I promised I'd bring them back here alive. But they didn't have our walls or our fences. Biters got there before we did. Now, the men had trucks, the trucks had weapons, food, medicine, things we need. Now, we didn't know them, but we'll honor their sacrifice by not taking what we have here for granted. Won't be long before dark, so go on home. Be thankful for what you have. Watch out for each other!"

He jumped off the Humvee and walked over to Courtney and Andrea. Some of his people began to leave to do their own thing, or some of his people began to gather around the army vehicles, "You're still here."

"Anything we can do?" Andrea asked, enjoying her stay in Woodbury so far.

"We'd like to start helping around here." Courtney added, liking this place so far. She hadn't felt this good and safe in a long time.

"No." The Governor shook his head, "Nothing tonight from me. You can ask Jose or Merle, maybe they'll find you something."

"Long day?" Andrea asked Philip.

"Haven't had many short ones lately." Philip answered as he started to head towards his house, "Good night."

* * *

Some hours has passed and it was already night. The Governor took a sip of his drink as he watched the empty streets of Woodbury before stepping away from the window. He placed his glass on the cupboard and stared at the picture that showed him, a woman that was his wife and his little girl, in more happier times, when people didn't had to worry about the undead.

He turned his gaze away from it and took off his necklace and used the key on the chain to open the doors placed next to cupboard. He grabbed his glass again and entered the room. He made sure to close the doors behind him, and pressed the button, turning the light on which ignited the entire room in shiny light. He sat down on the leather chair and took another sip of his drink.

His expression was blank as he turned his gaze towards his collection of water tanks filled with walkers head. His eyes went over to his newest additions to his collection which were two water tanks. One of them was filled with walkers that used to be tied to Michonne's chain and the other was filled with head that belonged to Welles, the soldier that he brought to Woodbury yesterday.

* * *

 **I was very excited to write this chapter because it introduces us to some of the main players for the next several episodes, and a new character related to TD has appeared. I decided to put Jose in the story,** **because he isn't used that much in TD fics.**


	23. Killer Within

It was the next day in the prison and the group was preparing everything to clear the yard from the corpses of the undead. Rick, Daryl, T-Dog, Carol, Chef, Chris, Duncan, Noah, Harold and Alejandro were busy bringing their vehicles to the other side of the fence.

Rick looked at his group as Alejandro drove the last vehcile which happened to be the blue truck into the field, "Okay, let's get the other car in. We'll park 'em in the west entry of the yard."

"Good." Daryl stated, "Our vehicles camped out there look like a giant "vacancy" sign."

"Especially our truck." Chef stated as he pointed at the truck which they got from Drake.

"After that, we need to load up these corpses so we can burn 'em." Rick continued.

T-Dog sighed, "Gonna be a long day."

Duncan shrugged, "Which day hasn't been a long one for the past few months, Dog?"

"Yeah." T-Dog nodded in agreement.

"Where's Glenn and Maggie?" Carol asked, "We could use some help."

"I think I know where they are." Noah stated as he took a few steps forward. His gaze was on one of the towers, "Glenn! Maggie! Can you stop whatever you're doing and show yourself!?"

They didn't had to wait long. Glenn came out into their view only a few seconds later, putting his pants back on, "Hey, what's up!"

The bookworm looked over his shoulder to see everyone behind him grinning and chuckling. He looked at Glenn again, "Are you coming down or what? We could use some help."

"Yeah." Glenn said, giving an awkward nod of his head, "We'll be right down."

The asian man turned away from the group and entered the guard tower again, hearing Maggie say, "Sickos." to herself.

The group turned away from the guard tower and was about to go back to their work but stopped when Harold said, "Guys."

Everyone looked in the direction that the nerd was looking at and saw Axel and Oscar staring at them from their side of the prison. Smile faded away from Rick's face as he pushed himself into walk towards them. T-Dog, Chef, Chris, Alejandro, Duncan and Daryl followed him as the two former prisoners entered the field.

"That's close enough." The sheriff deputy told the prisoners, making them stop.

"I thought we had an agreement." Chris reminded them prisoners, not wanting to have another Tomas situation.

"Please, mister. We know that. We made a deal." Axel began, "But you gotta understand...we can't live in that place another minute. You follow me? All the bodies-people we knew. Blood, brains everywhere. There's ghosts."

"Get used to it, soldier." Chef told him as Glenn and Maggie came out the guard tower, "This is a common view in todays world."

"Why don't you move the bodies out?" Chris asked.

"You should be burning them." T-Dog stated.

"I recall my friend here telling you that yesterday." Alejandro added to which T-Dog nodded in confirmation.

"We tried." Axel assured them, "We did."

"The fence is down on the far side of the prison. Every time we drag a body out, those things just line up. Dropping the body and just running back inside." Oscar added.

Axel continued, "Look, we had nothing to do with Tomas and Andrew. Nothing. You trying to prove a point? You proved it, bro. We'll do whatever it takes to be part of your group. Just please, please...don't make us live in that place."

Rick shook his head, "Our deal is not negotiable. You either live in your cell block, or you leave."

Oscar sighed as he turned look at his fellow inmate, "I told you this was a waste of time. They ain't no different than the pricks who shot up our boys. You know how many friends' corpses we had to drag out today? Just threw 'em out, like. Humph. These were good guys. Good guys who had our backs against the really bad dudes in the joint, like Tomas and Andrew. We've all made mistakes to get in here, chief. And I'm not gonna pretend to be a saint, but believe me...we've paid our due-enough that we would rather hit that road than to go back into that shithole."

Rick turned back to look at Daryl, Chef and Chris. All three of them shook their heads.

* * *

Daryl closed the gate to the prison, leaving Axel and Oscar on the other side before heading back to his group which was having a discussion about what they should do with them.

"Are you serious?" He heard Rick ask T-Dog as he approached his group, "You want them living in a cell next to you? They'll just be waiting for a chance to grab our weapons."

"You saw it yourself what happened with Tomas." Chris added, "He tried to kill me and Rick when he got the chance."

"You want to go back to sleeping with one eye open?" Rick asked the dark skinned man.

"I never stopped." T-Dog told him, "Bring them into the fold. If we send them off packing, we might as well execute them ourselves."

"I know that I don't have much to say about this, because I wasn't with you guys when Tomas and Andrew happened, but I agree with T-Dog." Harold spoke his mind about thid situation, "If they really wanted to kill us, they'd have tried to do it along with them."

"I don't know about this, man." Duncan said to the nerd. The situation with Timothy he had back when he was searching for Sophia, "They may be doing that just to lower our guard."

"What if they decide to take it?" Carol added.

"It's just been us for so long. They're strangers." Maggie stated, "It feels weird all of a sudden to have these other people around."

"You brought us in." T-Dog reminded her.

"We came with a young boy who was shot by one of their people." Chef stated, "We gave them no choice."

"They can't even kill walkers." Glenn stated.

"I wouldn't say that about Oscar, amigo." Alejandro stated, "But I can agree about Axel, though."

"They're convicts, bottom line." Carol pointed out.

"Those two might actually have less blood on their hands than we do." T-Dog stated.

"It was hard for them to get dirty, considering they were locked here since it began." Noah stated.

"I get guys like this." Daryl spoke up, earning everyone's attention, "Hell, I grew up with them. They're degenerates, but they ain't psychos. I could have been in there with them just as easy as I'm out here with you guys."

T-Dog looked at him, "So are you with me and Harold?"

"Hell, no." Daryl shook his head, "Let 'em take their chances out on the road just like we did."

"We should give them a chance to prove themselves to our group. If they will prove themselves to be danger, we'll take care of them in any way you want." Harold said, "I mean, look at me and Duncan. We used to hate each other, and now we're having each other backs, or Chris, we all used to hate him for the things he did to us on the set of both seasons, and now we trust him."

"When I was a rookie,I arrested this kid." Rick began, "Nineteen years old, wanted for stabbing his girlfriend. The kid blubbered like a baby during the interrogation,during the trial-suckered the jury. He was acquitted due to insufficient evidence and then, two weeks later,shot another girl. We've been through too much. Our deal with them stands."

It was when they turned in the same direction when they heard a familiar voice say to them. It was Cody who was accompanied by Gwen, "Guys. Have you seen Sierra today?"

Everyone exchanged a look with each other, before Rick answered, "No."

"None of us did." Carol stated, not recalling seeing her today.

"We've been asking people around the prison if they happened to see her today, and everyone said the same thing." Gwen added.

"Have you checked her cell?" Harold asked, "Maybe she left a note that she's going out."

"We did and we found nothing that could tell us where she is." Gwen explained.

"She even left her gun behind." Cody added.

Chef came over to them, "I'll help you search for her. Perharps she came across some walkers somewhere in the prison and ended up locking herself in a room."

* * *

Michonne was walking through the streets of Woodbury, passing by the main gate which was guarded by four men on the walls. She made her way back to the army vehicles that the Governor and his men brought here recently. Her eyes quickly caught the sight of the bullet holes in one of the trucks. She hopped intothe back of one the vehicles and spotted some blood.

She knelt down and touched the blood, confirmating what she was assuming. It was fresh. She stood up and hopped off the vehicle and was about to head out but stopped when she heard the Governo say to her, "Pretty amazing. We find more ammo,we could cut down a whole pack of biters. I hear you, Courtney and Andrea are leaving today. That's a shame. We could use a soldier like you."

"You seem like you're holding your own." Michonne pointed out, "Even the National Guard was overrun."

"No amount of training can prepare you for the world today." The Governor pointed out.

"You'd think one soldier would drive away, especially against something so slow." Michonne stated, coming closer to him.

"Those men were heroes. Not the kind to leave anyone behind." Philip stated, "If only we'd gotten there sooner and you were with us."

"Lots of bullet holes." Michonne said, as she turned to look at one of the holes. She placed her finger in one of them, "You think biters figured out how to use." weapons?"

"They must have encountered bandits weeks ago." Philip assumed, "It's ugly out there, but then...you know that better than anyone."

"Too bad what happened to Wells." Michonne stated.

"Dr Stevens couldn't revive him." The Governor explained, "Merle put a bullet in his brain."

"No funeral?" Michonne asked him.

"We cremated him, quietly." Philip answered, "These people have been through so much,I figured, thank god,at least no one knew him."

"Thank god." Michonne said, not believing a single word that the Governor just said to her before walking away from him.

* * *

The group was now working on getting rid of the bodies of the undead. Chef had left with Gwen and Cody to help them search for Sierra who hasn't been seen since yesterday.

"Move the cars to the upper yard." Rick said to his group, "Point 'em facing out. They'll be out of the way but ready to go if we ever need to bail. We'll give the prisoners a week's worth of supplies for the road."

"Might not last a week." T-Dog stated.

"Remember the one time when we found supplies that we thought would last months and only lasted barely one." Harold reminded him.

"It's their choice." Rick pointed out.

"Did they really have one?" T-Dog asked him.

"Whose blood would you rather have on your hands?" Rick asked the dark skinned man and nerdy teenagers, "Maggie's, Glenn's, Leshawna's, or theirs?"

T-Dog shook his head, "Neither."

"Same here." Harold nodded in agreement.

Daryl got himself on his motorcycle as Axel asked him, "Twin cylinder. Is that a Triumph?"

"Don't even look at it." Daryl told him, not even looking up at the prisoner as he started up his motorcycle.

"Didn't want it bored out?" Axel asked him as Daryl started riding into the fields, "Sounds like it could use a tune-up. I'm pretty handy with a wrench. Heads are leakin'. I know my bikes!"

"He already knows how to take care of one." Duncan said to Axel as he drove past him on his own motorcycle.

Oscar shook his head at Axel, "Man, will you just stop? Have some balls?"

Axel shrugged, "Just sayin'."

* * *

In the cell block, Carl and Ezekiel sat on the stairs together, not really having anything to do as Lori, Beth, Leshawna, Bridgette and DJ entered the cell block. The lovable giant was carrying some crutches. The young Grimes exchanged a look with the homeschool before following members from their group into one of the cells.

DJ smiled at Hershel who sat up on his bunk, "Just take your time, man."

"Daddy." Beth said as her father reached out for the crutches, "Don't push yourself."

Hershel chuckled as he took the crutches from DJ and started steadying himself on them, "What else am I going to do? I can't stand looking up at that bottom of that bunk anymore."

Bridgette and Lori started secure Hershel, walking by his sides to make sure he wasn't going to fall down while everyone else watched. He nodded his head after a few seconds, "You know,I think I'm pretty steady."

"That's a good start." Bridgette smiled at him.

"Want to take a rest?" Lori offered.

"Rest?" Hershel chuckled, "Let's go for a little stroll."

"You heard the old man." Leshawna smiled, "Let's take a walk."

* * *

Michonne was with Andrea and Courtney in their room in Woodbury, glancing down at the map which was placed on the bed by the dark skinnned woman, planning their next move.

"If we leave soon." Michonne began, "We'll got a few hours on the road before dusk."

"What direction do you have in mind?" Courtney asked her.

"I'm thinking the coast." Michonne answered, "We have the water completely on one side, maybe we find a boat. Best thing we can do is find an island."

"Finding island is the easy part." Courtney asked, "Finding the one where we would be able to survive is the hard part."

"She right." Andrea nodded, "What if the coast isn't safe?"

"Keep moving." Michonne answered, plain and simple.

"Let's say the coast is safe. Then what do we do? Just grow old, live off the sea by ourselves?" Andrea wanted to know.

"I'd rather take my chances out there than stay here." Michonne declared.

* * *

Chef was making his way back to his group to inform them that they failed to find Sierra along with Cody, Gwen, Izzy and Heather, the latter two joined them on their search for Sierra and unfortunely, the superfan was nowhere to be found. He saw Rick, Daryl, Alejandro, Chris and Duncan heading out to get some wood while Harold, Glenn, and Noah remained on behind the fence. T-Dog, Carol and Maggie remained in the yard, as they were finishing putting the vechicles in their places.

Harold turned to look at the co-host of Total Drama who was followed by other contestants, "You're back."

"Did you find her?" Glenn asked.

Chef shook his head, "No."

"We couldn't find a single trace that could lead us to her possible location." Izzy added, unaware that Andrew cleaned all the blood stains that could lead them to Sierra a night before.

Hershel came out of the building, steadying himself on his crutches as Lori, Bridgette, Beth and Ezekiel were making sure he wasn't going to fall down. DJ, Leshawna and Carl walked in front of them.

"Look at that, sugar!" Leshawna smiled as she shared a quick fist bump with DJ as Hershel started to come down the stairs, "The old man is actually doing it!"

DJ smiled too, "You're doing great, dude. You're learning fast."

"You cleared all those bodies out?" Hershel asked, looking around the emptied yard, "It's starting to look like a place we could really live in."

"It surely does." Bridgette nodded her head, "Make sure to watch your step. Last thing we need is you falling."

Chris came through the hole in the fence and smiled at the view of Hershel walking across the yard, "Guys. Look at it."

"He is one tough soldier." Chef smiled, as everyone turned to look at Hershel.

Gwen smiled, "He is walking again."

"At least something good happened today." Cody smiled, the view of Hershel walking making him forget about the fact that someone from the group was missing for a second.

Glenn chuckled and cried out, "All right, Hershel!"

"Keep your cheers down." Noah said to his friend as he pointed at some walkers on the other side, "We don't want to attract them here."

"Oh man." Glenn groaned, "Can't we just have one good day?"

"Maybe once we'll be done with clearing this place out." Noah stated.

Glenn nodded, "I hope so, man."

Bridgette and Lori moved away from Hershel, allowing the old man to walk on his own for a second, without any help. He didn't even trip. He continued to walk without any problems.

Beth smiled at her father, "You're doing great, daddy."

"We'll make you in the fastest man alive, you'll see." Ezekiel grinned.

"Ready to race, Hershel?" Carl said in a joking manner right after hearing Ezekiel's words.

Hershel chuckled, "Give me another day. I'll take you on."

Maggie watched it with a huge smile on her face as Leshawna approached her, "Who knows, maybe your old man will be able to outrun Chef someday."

"I'd like to see that." Maggie let out a small chuckle at her words.

Rick came over to the fence and exchanged a look with his wife who smiled at him. It was when Ezekiel turned around and his eyes snapped open in shock. He saw a group of walkers heading their way, "Eh, walkers!"

Rick quickly broke himself into run towards the entrance to the yard, and everyone quickly followed him, "No!"

"Someone has to close the hole in the fence!" Duncan pointed out, running after Rick, his hand was already on his Smith & Wesson.

"I'll take care of it!" Cody shouted as he quickly ran back to the hole in the fence and started closing it as fast as he could.

"Get outta there!" Chef cried out to his group, running as fast as he could, "All of you!"

"Lori!" Rick cried out for his wife.

"Leshawna!" Harold cried out shorty after him, worried for her.

Carl pulled out his pistol and so did his mother as they started to shoot down the walkers as Maggie, Leshawna, Carol and T-Dog ran over to them. Hershel's older daughter aleady had her gun out as she started firing at the undead too as Ezekiel and DJ made sure to pull out their pistols as well. The lovable giant and the homeschool ran in front of Hershel as Beth and Bridgette were making sure that the old man was going to be in a safe place as fast as it was possible.

Beth quickly opened the doors which were leading to another building of the prison as Bridgette and her father quickly followed her. DJ fired his pistol at the nearest walker, taking care of it as he and Zeke joined them, just seconds before the entrance were locked again by the younger Greene. They were safe.

Rick had just made it to the gate but then he realized that it was locked. He turned back to his group, "Chef! Keys!"

Chef quickly pulled out the keys and threw them to the sheriff deputy who instantly caught it as Cody who closed the hole made his way back to the rest of his group while T-Dog fired his pistol and saw that something that was supposed to be closed was open, "That gate is open!"

He started to run towards it along with Carol as Lori killed one more walker as she heard Maggie call out for her, "Lori!"

She turned to her and saw the older Greene and Leshawna standing in front of the entrance ot their cells block. Leshawna gave her and Carl a quick wave, "In here, girl!'

Lori and Carl quickly listened to them and ran over to them, entering the cell block along with Maggie and Leshawna. They were intending to stay in their cells until it was over but their plans were quickly changed when they saw several walkers coming out of their cells. They changed their destinatio and ran into the hallways where Hershel got bitten not that long ago, having no other options.

Rick quickly opened the gate and ran over to the main gate, not even paying attention to Oscar and Axel, and started opening another gate as T-Dog made his way to the gate that was supposed to be closed and started locking it, to make sure no more walkers were going to come into the picture. He was completely oblivious of the fact that one walker was already heading towards him.

He finally locked the gate and was about to run over to Carol who was waiting for him. He stopped when the undead sunk it's teeth in his shoulder, bitting of a piece of flesh. He let out a scream in pain as Carol cried out, "No!"

T-Dog punched the walker that bit him, sending it away from him, before finishing it off with one last bullet from his pistol. He dropped his pistol on the ground and ran over to Carol, right before the two of them entered the building of the prison as the undead followed them.

Rick managed to open the gate and the group started running towards the members of their group that were in grave danger as Axel called out to them, "Hey, what about us!?"

"You want to prove yourself to our group?' Heather asked them, holding her knife tightly, "Then, come with us and don't even think about pulling the same trick as your friend did!"

This answer was enough for the two former prisoners who instantly pushed themselves into run, following the group.

* * *

Andrea and Courtney were talking to Merle. They promised to give the older Dixon a map with a signed spot where Hershel's was, to give him a place where to start looking if he wanted to go out looking for his brother, which was quite obvious.

"We circled where you can find that farm we were staying at with Daryl." Andrea informed him.

"Just like we promised." Courtney added.

Merle stared down at the map and nodded, "Ah, you were right off Route 9 right before it becomes Dahlonega Highway. And you're saying that farmhouse is only about a day's walk from there?"

"Give or take." Andrea told him as she pointed at one spot on the map, "This is where we looked for Sophia. Even made it up around here."

Merle turned his gaze away from the map and looked at Andrea, "How come we never hooked up?"

"You called me a whore" Andrea pointed out with a smile, "And a rugmuncher."

"Not to mention you beat up T-Dog." Courtney added, "And threatened us, and put all of us in danger by shooting the walkers on the streets"

Merle turned to look at her and grinned, "C'mon, CIT. You can't deny that the blondie here and I would make a fine pair."

"I'm doing my best to not put this image in my heard." Courtney answered.

Merle chuckled, "I'll take that as yes."

Courtney rolled her eyes, 'If you say so."

"Merle." Andrea said as the older Dixon looked at her, "Have you ever thought about leaving this place?"

"Never had a reason to." Merle answered.

"So The Governor is a good man?" Andrea asked him another question.

"Let me just put it this way-I wasn't in the best of shape when he found me. He should have just kept on going. Yeah, he's a good man." Merle replied, "If you want more proof, go ask Jose. He knows him longer than I do."

* * *

Rick, Daryl, Chef, Glenn, Noah, Duncan, Alejandro, Heather, Izzy, Gwen and Cody opened the main gate of the prison, entering the yard, quickly earning the attention of the walkers who weren't killed by their group.

"Hey! Undead shitheads!" Duncan shouted, pulling out his pistol, "We're here!"

The juvie started firing his pistol at the undead as Izzy ran over to the nearest walker. She kicked it into the knee, bringing it down to his knees and finished it off with as simple stab in it's head. Daryl released an arrow from his bow at one walker, which hit it straight between it's eyes and Alejandro ran past him and placed his tomahawk right in the skull of another walker.

Chef pulled out his handgun as Chris did the same with his Glock and the two hosts of Total Drama started firing their pistols at the undead as Harold stabbed one in the head with his knife while Gwen and Heather took out some undead with their own meele weapons. Noah and Cody stayed behind, but were still doing their best to help their group to take out the walkers. Oscar and Axel remained in the back. They weren't doing anything because they didn't had any weapon to kill a walker.

"What the hell happened?" Chef asked Beth, Hershel, Ezekiel, Bridgette and DJ.

"The walkers broke in." Bridgette answered.

"How? I thought the chain was keeping the gates together." Chris asked.

Bridgette shook her head, "I've been asking myself the same thing, Chris."

"Where's Lori, Carl and everyone else?" Rick wanted to know.

"Maggie and Leshawna led Lori and Carl into C block." Hershel explained.

"T-Dog was bit." DJ exclaimed.

"What?" Alejandro asked, wanting to be sure if he didn't misheard it. T-Dog was bitten?!, "Where?"

"In the shoulder." DJ answered as Alejandro sighed, knowing that T-Dog was a dead man.

"Anyone else or just him?" Chef wanted to know.

"Just him." DJ answered.

"Stay put." Rick ordered them as he turned to look at Chris, "Chris. You'll stay here with Heather, Gwen, and Cody and make sure to kill every walker you'll see. The rest with me."

"Will do!" Chris answered as Heather, Cody and Gwen nodded their heads.

Glenn ran over to them, "Those chains didn't break on their own. Someone took an ax or cutters to 'em."

Rick turned back to look at Oscar and Axel. Glenn saw him looking at them and asked, "You think they did it?"

"Who else?" Rick asked him in return.

It was when, completely out of the sudden, alarm started ringing across the entire prison. Glenn shook his head and asked, "What's that?"

"An alarm." Noah answered, "Someone had to turn it on now."

Duncan groaned, "Oh, give us a break!"

"We're just asking ourselves to be overrun at this point." Izzy stated as she turned back to see the walkers walking out of the forest, right towards the prison.

"Give me the key. I'll close the main gate." Alejandro said to Rick who responded immediately and threw the keys to him as Chef and Duncan were made sure to destroy every alarm bell that appeared in their view with a bullet from their pistols.

They ran over to the main gate and Rick instantly aimed his Python at Oscar and Axel, demanding, "How the hell can this be happening?!"

"Whoa-whoa-whoa!" Oscar raised his hands in the air, "It has to be the backup generators."

"Well, how do you turn those on?" Chef demanded to know.

"There's three that's connected to a diesel tank, okay?" Oscar answered, "Each one controls a certain part of the prison. The hacks shut 'em all off when the prison was overrun."

"Can someone open up the main gates electronically with full power?" Alejandro asked him.

"I only worked in there a few days. I guess it might be possible." Oscar replied.

Rick grabbed Oscar by his shirt, "Come with us!"

He started dragging Oscar towards the generator room as Chef, Daryl, Duncan, Alejandro, Izzy, Noah, Axel, Harold and Glenn followed them.

T-Dog and Carol continued to make their way through the prison, attempting to themselves in a safe place away from the walkers. T-Dog clenched his teeth as he pressed his right hand against his bite, even thouhg he knew that it was pointless and knew that his time was coming to an end. He just wanted to make sure that Carol was going to be alright.

"There's a set of double doors that will lead to a corridor that'll get you back to our cell block." He said to Carol.

"You should stop." Carol told T-Dog as he leaned against the wall for a second to catch a break. She could easily say that he was getting weaker.

"I'm getting you there!" T-Dog told her in return as he started walking again, "What else am I supposed to do? Sit here and wait to die?"

"I'll do what I have to. You're not becoming one of those things." Carol tried to assure him.

T-Dog shook his head, "I can't ask that."

"It's the pact, remember?" Carol asked him.

"This is god's plan. He'll take care of me. Always has." T-Dog declared, "He's gonna help you lead you out of these tunnels."

In the other building of prison, Carl, Maggie, Leshawna and Lori proceeded to make their way through the dark hallways that the older Greene was familiar with. She walked in the front with Carl while Leshawna walked along with Lori, making sure that everything alright with the pregnant lady.

She stopped when they passed the corner and Lori placed her hands on the wall. She quickly called out to Maggie and Carl to inform them about this, "Guys! Something is with Lori!"

Maggie instantly hurried over to Lori, "Are you bit?"

"She isn't." Leshawna answered for Lori, "I asked her that a few moments ago."

Lori started breathing heavily, "...I think the baby's coming."

Leshawna's eyes snapped open, "Not now, not now."

Just then, the walkers came out from the hallway ahead of them as Leshawna and Maggie wrapped their hands around the pregnant lady and started taking her away from the walkers as Carl ran ahead of them, looking for a place where his mother could have a baby. He spotted some white doors ahead of the after several seconds of walking and quickly rushed over to it.

He opened it and turned to look at his mother, Maggie and Leshawna, "In here!"

Maggie and Leshawna made sure to walk through the doors with Lori as Carl locked it right after they entered the room. They made their way to the other side of the room, hoping that the walkers weren't going to enter this room and fortunely for them, they didn't, they walked right past the entrance to it.

* * *

Jose whistled as he stood on top of the city walls, playing some golf. His target was some random walker standing in the distance. His swung his golf club as the ball went flying and hit the walker right in the check He shook his head at how close he was from hitting it in the head.

"What are you doing?" She heard some female voice ask him. He turned away from the walker to the source of it and saw Andrea and Courtney climbing up the wall.

"Practicing." He answered.

"Practicing for what?" Andrea asked him.

"For Philip." Jose replied, "I've been trying to get better at this."

"I can see that you're not doing that great." Andrea stated.

"You're not wrong about that. I still have a lot to learn." Jose chuckled. He set his golf club aside, "I heard you two are planning to leave with your silent friend."

"We're thinking about it." Courtney explained.

"That will be a shame if you'll decide to. I'm not forcing you, but you can always stay if you want to." Jose stated, "People in Woodbury seem to like you. Some may be afraid of your friend, but I'm sure they'll warm up to her. She is being cautious about everything and I can understand that."

"We came here because we want to talk with you." Andrea revealed.

Jose shrugged, "Go ahead."

"How did you met the Governor?" Courtney asked him, "Merle told us that we should talk with you."

"I was an absolute wreck when he found me." Jose began with a small sigh escaping his lips, "He could have leave me to become a meal for the muertos, or steal my things, but he didn't. He offered me to join him and I repayed him by helping him to built this place for helping me to put myself together. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him, and for that I'm going to forever grateful. If you're trying to ask me if he's a good man, then the answers is yes, he is a good man."

* * *

Back in the prison, Rick, Izzy, Chef and Harold had just finished clearing the cell block from the walkers. The people from their group that they've been looking for were still nowhere to be seen.

"We just took down five of 'em in there." Daryl declared as he entered the cell block with Duncan, Glenn, Alejandro, Noah, Oscar and Axel.

"There were four in here, but no sign of Lori or any of them." Rick explained how things were in the cell block.

"They must have been pushed back into the prison." Glenn stated.

Duncan shook his head, "Somebody is playing games with us."

"We'll split up and look for the others." Rick declared, "Whoever gets to the generators first, shut 'em down!."

The group nodded and split up into two groups. The first group consisted of Rick, Daryl, Chef, Izzy, Oscar and Noah and the other one consisted of Glenn, Harold, Alejandro, Axel and Duncan. They entered the hallways and started making their way to the generators while making sure to find the missing members of their group.

Lori leaned against the wall as she tried to steady her breathing. She turned to look at Maggie, Leshawna and Carl, "What are those alarms?"

"Don't worry about it." Maggie told her.

"Just focus on steadying your breathing." Leshawna added.

"What if it attracts them?" Carl asked.

Lori let go off the wall and headed to the other side of the room as Leshawna, Carl and Maggie followed her. She placed her hands on one thing in the room, with one deep breath leaving her lungs after another as the rest catched up to her.

"Lori,let's lay you down." Maggie offered.

"No." Lori shook her head, "The baby's coming now."

"We have to get back to our cell block and have Hershel help." Carl stated.

"No." Leshawna shook her head, "This is too risky. We can get caught by them in the hallway, especially now."

"You're gonna need to give birth to this baby here." Maggie told her.

Lori panted, "Great."

"What is she doing?" Carl asked them, "Can't she breathe?"

"She's fine." Maggie answered as she started taking Lori's pants off, "Leshawna, help me get her pants off."

Leshawna quickly came over to Maggie and helped her. She placed Lori's pants aside as Maggie put Lori on the floor. The older Greene looked at Carl, 'You're gonna need to help deliver your brother or sister. You up for it? I'll do an exam. Let me see if you're dilated."

"Do you know how?" Carl asked her.

"Dad taught me, but trust me,i t's my first time." Maggie replied. She was silent for a few seconds before speaking up again, "I can't tell."

"I gotta push." Lori stated, "I gotta push."

Maggie turned to look at Leshawna who nodded her head and came over to them. They brought Lori back on her feet and she held into something. She gritted her teeth and started pushing as hard as she could.

"You're doing great, sister. Just keep doing it." Leshawna said, as she placed her hand on Lori's shoulder, trying to calm her down a bit.

"She's right. Your body knows what to do. Let it do all the work." Maggie added as Lori started pushing again. She stopped a few seconds later when Maggie told her, "Lori, don't push-stop. Something's wrong."

Lori let out a scream of pain, causing Leshawna to let go off her shoulder as Maggie stared down at her hand which was stained in blood. She looked up at Carl and Leshawna. The former looked at it in confusion as the latter shook her head with her eyes widening in horror.

T-Dog and Carol were still making their way through the hallways, but the former was rather stumbling forward as he could feel himself becoming weaker with each step he took. They stopped when they saw two walkers standing in their way. Carol took out her pistol and aimed it the undead, intending to kill them, but unfortunely her gun ran out of ammo.

She took one step backwards, "Go back."

"No." T-Dog stopped her, "We're almost there."

She charged forward at the undead and brought them against the wall, using himself as human shield. The undead started biting into T-Dog's body as he turned back to look at Carol, "Go! I'm dead, anyway!"

Carol started running and ran past T-Dog as the two walkers that were starting to feast on his body. She stopped in front of the doors and exchanged one last look with T-Dog who screamed in agony as the undead bit into his neck. Carol ran through the doors and the last thing she heard of T-Dog were his agonizing screams of pain which lasted several seconds. After that, there was nothing but silence.

Rick, Chef, Izzy, Noah, Daryl and Oscar were making their way through the hallway until they finally made their way to the generator room. The sheriff deputy along with the bookworm and the co-host of Total Drama started walking along the room, with their weapons in ready as Oscar, Daryl and Izzy were making sure that the undead weren't going to enter it.

"How do you shut these down?!" Rick asked.

"Go help 'em." Daryl told Oscar.

"We got it." Izzy assured the former prisoner.

Oscar nodded and ran over to Rick, showing how the shut the generators off. Rick nodded his head, now knowing how to do it as Oscar went out to take care of another generator. He attention was shifted when someone let out a scream. He turned in the direction of the scream and saw Andrew who was wielding an axe. He swung it at Rick, hitting the generator.

Chef saw it and charged at Andrew to help Rick, but the young man swung his axe at him, pushing the co-host of Total Drama away. His attention went back to Rick as he pinned the sheriff deputy against the generator. Rick screamed as he pushed Andrew off of him. He and Andrew wrestled across the room, slamming themselves against one generator to another, until Andrew finally dropped his axe.

Rick attempted to pull out his Python, only to have it thrown off his grasp by Andrew. The Python went sliding across the floor and Oscar didn't fail to notice this. He walked over to them and threw a barrel. Andrew was knocked down as Oscar picked up Rick's Python and aimed it at the sheriff deputy.

Rick held his hand in front of him telling Oscar not to shot him withot saying any words as Andrew got himself back on his feet and pointed at the sheriff deputy, "Shoot him! We can take back this prison. What you waiting for? Do it! It's our house. Shoot him!"

Oscar didn't listen to a single word that left Andrew's mouth. He aimed Rick's Python at the prisoner he spend the last months locked in the cafeteria and pulled the trigger. The Python fired and the bullet hit Andrew right between his eyes. The young prisoner collapsed on the floor, dead.

He didn't even paid attention to Daryl, Izzy and Chef who were ready to strike him at any second. Noah was nowhere to be found. He flipped the Python to the other side and held it out to Rick, offering it back to it's owner. Rick send him a small grateful nod and came over to him. He took his Python from Oscar before powering down the generators.

"Guys." Noah called out as he came out from the other side of the room, earning everyone's attention. His face showed disgust, "I found Sierra."

Everyone came over to the bookworm who took them straight to the place where their eyes caught the sight of Sierra's corpse. A huge cut was going through her neck that it made a few of them wonder how her head was still sticking to her body. She had another cut on her, a much larger one. It was going through her stomach area in the region of her heart. It was easy for everyone to say that Andrew cut her heart out.

"He cut her heart out and used it to drag the walkers towards us." Chef stated, looking at the corpse in front of him with a disgusted expression on his face.

Daryl shook his head. He and Sierra never interacted that much, but she didn't deserve to die like this, "Fucking bastard."

"What are we going to do with her?" Oscar asked, standing in the back of the group.

"I'll bring her to the rest of our group." Chef answered as he looked around his group, "You guys go looking for other missing members."

"Someone should stay with you." Noah stated, "It won't be good when you will come across some of those things while carrying a body."

"He's right." Izzy nodded in agreement as she looked at Chef, "I'll go with you."

The situation wasn't getting better with Lori. She was growing faint as the hemorrhaging continued. She realized she will not survive natural childbirth. She knew where this was going and she was going to do everything to not lose her baby.

"Keep your eyes open." Leshawna said to her, "Don't even think about closing them."

"We have to get you back to dad." Maggie stated, holding Lori's hand.

Lori shook her head, "I'm not gonna make it."

"Lori,with all this blood, I don't even think you're fully dilated yet." Maggie stated, "No amount of pushing is gonna help."

"I know what it means." Lori told her, accepting what was going to happen to her, "I'm not losing my baby. You've gotta cut me open."

Maggie shook her head, "No. I can't."

"You don't have a choice." Lori stated.

"I'll take Carl and we'll go get some help." Leshawna declared, "Bridgette practiced that. We'll bring her here."

"Please." Lori was practically begging them. Begging them to cut her open so her baby could live.

"I have no anesthetic, no equipment..." Maggie began, but was interrupted by Lori.

"Carl has a knife." She pointed out.

"You won't survive." Leshawna told Lori, shaking her head, "You'll die."

"My baby has to survive. Please. My baby..." She was cut off by a gasp of pain, "Please, Maggie! Please!"

* * *

Andrea and Courtney were with Michonne in their room in Woodbury, discussing if they should stay in this community or not and Michonne was less than happy to hear their opinions about this matter.

Michonne frowned, "I thought we had an agreement."

"We can always leave tomorrow or the following day." Andrea told her.

"The following day?" Michonne asked them.

"Michonne, we just don't want to walk into trouble that we can't get out of." Courtney pointed out.

Michonne rolled her eyes, "Tell me about it."

"Michonne,it is just a day or two." Andrea said as Michonne got up and walked past her and Courtney.

"It won't be much difference if we'll leave today or tommorow." Courtney stated.

"I heard you the first time." Michonne said as she walked ouf the room, leaving Courtney and Andrea with themselves.

* * *

Maggie removed a bit of Lori's shirt, revealing a nasty scar from the last C-section she had, "You see my old C-section scar?"

The older Greene shook her head, as she seconds away from bursting into tears, "I can't."

"You can. You have to." Lori weakly told her as she turned to look at her son who sat next to Leshawna. Both of them, just like Maggie were seconds away from bursting into tears, "Carl? Baby, I don't want you to be scared,okay? This is what I want. This is right. Now, you take care of your daddy for me, all right. And your little brother or sister, you take care..."

Carl cut her off with a shake of his head, "You don't have to do this."

"You're gonna be fine. You are gonna beat this world. I know you will. You are smart,and you are strong,and you are so brave, and I love you." Lori told her son, holding back tears.

"I love you too." Carl said in return, now sobbing.

"You gotta do what's right,baby. You promise me,you'll always do what's right. It's so easy to do the wrong thing in this world. So don't-so if it feels wrong,don't do it,all right? If it feels easy,don't do it. Don't let the world spoil you. You're so good. You're my sweet boy. You're the best thing I ever did. And I love you. I love you. You're my sweet, sweet boy. I love you

"You gotta do what's right, baby. You promise me,you'll always do what's right. It's so easy to do the wrong thing in this world. So don't-so if it feels wrong,don't do it,all right? If it feels easy,don't do it. Don't let the world spoil you." Lori said, beginning to cry herself as she placed her hand on Carl's cheek to wipe the tears that were coming down his cheeks, "You're so good. You're my sweet boy. You're the best thing I ever did. And I love you. I love you. You're my sweet, sweet boy. I love you."

She grabbed her son and brought him to herself, sharing one long last hug with him, both of them sobbing as Maggie couldn't hold for any second longer and started crying. Leshawna was still doing her best to not cry too. She had to be strong. She never cried.

Lori kissed her son in his cheek and released him from the hug, "Maggie, Leshawna, when this is over, you're gonna have to kill me. Either of you has to do it. It can't be Rick."

Leshawna placed her hand on Lori's shoulder, giving her one last smile, "May you rest in peace, sister. Make sure to tell everyone we lost since all of this begun that we miss them."

Lori nodded her head as Carl handed Maggie his knife, "Don't worry, Leshawna, I will. I will..."

"I'm sorry, Lori." Maggie said her last words to Lori as she brought Carl's knife down on Lori's C-section spot. Lori screamed in agony as the knife cut her weapon. Leshawna grabbed Carl and placed his head on her shoulder, not wanting him to look how his mom was cut open, "Leshawna. I need your help.

"What do you want me to do?" Leshawna asked her as she let go off Carl.

"Give me your hands. You should keep the site clean, okay? I cut too deep, I'm gonna cut the baby" Maggie explained as Leshawna nodded and started assisting Maggie. Carl kept looking at his mom who was letting out her last deep breaths as Maggie with Leshawna's help managed to pull his younger sibling out. Carl turned his gaze away from his mom. He and Leshawna watched how Maggie started slapping her hand against the baby's back. She stopped when the baby started crying. It was alive.

Carl grabbed a jacket and handed it to Maggie who wrapped it around the baby, and said, "We have to go."

"We can't just leave her here. She'll turn." Carl said as Maggie reached for her pistol, "No."

"Carl, no." Leshawna said with a shake of her head, being the only person in the room that wasn't crying, yet, knowing that Carl meant by that,  
"That's your mom."

"That's right, Leshawna." Carl said, 'That is why I need to do it."

Maggie and Leshawna stared at him for a second before heading out to the exit from the room, leaving Carl along with his mom. He stared down at her as the memory of a conversation he had with his dad back at the farm went back to his head.

"... _No more kid stuff. People are gonna die. I'm gonna die...mom...there's no way you can ever be ready for it_..."

Maggie and Leshawna flinched when the sound of Carl firing his pistol rang through their ears. Carl came over to them a few seconds ago, not even looking up at them. His gaze was on the floor as they walked out of the room and started making their way back to their group.

Rick, Noah, Daryl and Oscar had met up with Duncan, Alejandro, Harold, Axel and Glenn when they were searching through the hallways for T-Dog and Carol and informed them about everything that happened in the generator room and that they found Sierra or rather her lifeless corpse. They turned around the corner and saw two walkers feasing on some corpse.

The walkers rose up from their meal and spotted the group of people walking towards them, but they didn't had a chance to do anything as Harold took them out with two shots from his shotgun. The group walked over to the corpse of a man who they immediately recognized as T-Dog.

Alejandro sighed as he knelt down in front of the body of his friend. He placed his tomahawk right between T-Dog's eyes, "Goodbye, amigo."

"Daryl." Duncan's voice called out for the redneck. He turned to the juvie and saw him holding Carol's scarf and the gun, "Wasn't those Carol's"

Daryl stared at those things for a second before letting out a saddened, "Yeah..."

"I'm sorry about Carol. I know you two were close with her." Harold said to Duncan and Daryl, before turning to look at Alejandro, "And I'm sorry about T-Dog."

Chef and Izzy came out of the building. Chris, Hershel, Beth, DJ, Ezekiel, Bridgette, Heather, Gwen and Cody who were outside for this whole time quickly noticed that Chef was holding a lifeless body which belonged to Sierra.

Bridgette gasped, "Sierra!"

Beth stepped backwards a bit as Izzy and Chef approached her, giving them a good look at the state Sierra's body was in, "Oh my gosh."

"She's dead." Cody said as he hung his head low. Sierra may have been a bit crazy, but she protected him too many times than he could actually count since this begun. She didn't deserve to die like this.

"Who the hell did that?" Heather asked them.

"Andrew. The prisoner we thought was dead turned out to be alive." Izzy explained.

"Don't worry. We don't have to worry about him anymore." Chef said with as sigh as he set Sierra's body down on the ground, "Oscar killed him."

Just then, Rick, Daryl, Glenn, Alejandro, Duncan, Noah, Harold, Oscar, Axel rushed out of the building, joining the rest of the group outside as they ran over to them.

"You didn't find them?" DJ asked them.

"We thought maybe they came back." Glenn explained.

"What about T?" Hershel asked, "And Carol?"

The rest of the group remained silent for a moment. It was enough for them to understand what happened to T-Dog and Carol. Daryl only confirmed it when he said, "They didn't make it."

"That doesn't mean the others didn't." Rick stated, "We're going back. Daryl, Duncan, Izzy, and Glenn, you come wit..."

He was cut off by baby cry. Everyone turned in the direction of the cry and saw Maggie, Carl and Leshawna coming out of the cell block. Maggie was carrying a baby infant, Leshawna's hands were bloody and Carl's gaze was on the ground. Everyone stared at them as Rick slowly stepped towards Maggie who looked like she was about to cry.

"Where-where is she?" Rick stuttered out as he walked past Maggie, Leshawna and his infant baby. Maggie reached out to stop him, but he took a steps forward and stopped next to his son, who didn't even look at him.

Glenn slowly walked over to his girlfriend and brought her closer to him as she started crying again. Harold approached Leshawna couldn't hold for any longer and bursted into tears. Leshawna never cried, this was what she always telling herself, but this was one of the situations where she couldn't stop herself from bursting into tears. Harold engulfed her in a comforting hug as Gwen walked over to them and joined the hug, comforting her friend.

The rest of the group just stared at everything in completely silence, not knowing that to say. T-Dog, Carol, Lori and Sierra were gone. Four lives of people from their group have been lost today.

"Oh, no, no..." Rick kept repeating those words over and over as he started to cry over the loss of his wife. He placed his hands on his head and shook his head a few times, before collapsing on the ground, sobbing.


	24. Say The Word

It was a sunny day in Woodbury. The residents of this community were spending their time outside, preparing for some kind of festival that the Governor had planned for them. Milton and Jose picked up some cold drinks from the picnic table and started making his way towards two people who recently found themselves in Woodbury, passing by Martinez and Merle who were discussing something with each other.

Their eyes caught the sight of Andrea and Courtney after a few seconds. The lawyer and the CIT stood together in the streets. They came over to them, holding out the drinks to them.

Courtney took the drink Jose was offering her as Andrea took the drink from Milton, "Thank you."

"Cold drinks?" Andrea asked just a second after taking her drink from Milton.

"Been running the freezers all day." Milton explained, "Not the most practical use of the generators to my mind."

Jose gave him an assuring pat on his back, "There's nothing to worry about, amigo. You said it yourself."

"I'm just starting to have seconds thoughts about this." Milton told his friend.

"It's kind of amazing." Andrea stated, pressing the cold drink against her cheek to which Courtney nodded in agreement.

"The Governor feels it's worth it." Milton stated.

"Well, to a great party." Andrea said, holding out her drink to the rest. Courtney, Jose and Milton clinked their glasses with hers, "Now, if you would just drop me a hint about tonight."

"More words cannot adequately describe the festivities ahead." Mitlon answered.

Courtney turned to look at Jose, "What about you? You're going to share what you have planned for today with us?"

"My lips are sealed, senorita." Jose smirked, "You'll find out very soon."

Michonne stood in the background and just watched how Andrea and Courtney were having a conversation with the Governor's closest allies. They talked for a few more seconds before Jose and Milton excused themselves and walked away from Courtney and Andrea.

The Governor was in his room, brushing the hair of a little girl. He moved the brush a little too rougly, ripping off a piece of hair of the girl along with some skin. The girl growled and started squrming, reaching out to grab his hand. Philip placed the brush aside and wrapped his arms around her to calm her down.

"Penny, no." He told her, as he grabbed a rope and tied it around her. "It's nap time now. Nap time."

He placed a bag over her head to hide her bloody and rotting face. He picked her up and started taking her to her room as the undead little girl continued to squirm. He lifted her up and placed her on his shoulder, "Daddy still loves you. You know that, right?"

* * *

Everyone were silent. Not a single word escaped from anyone's mouth. The only sound that was coming from the group was the sound of the newborn baby crying. Rick was still on his knees, simply staring ahead, not even paying attention to the worried glances of the people from his gorup.

"Rick, you with me?" Daryl's voice was muffled as he spoke up to the sheriff deputy, "Rick?"

"Are you there, soldier?" Chef's voice was muffled as well, worry was evident in his voice as he waved his hand in front of Rick, attempting to get any answer from the sheriff deputy, "Rick? Can you hear me?"

"Let us see the baby." Hershel said as Rick remained silent. Maggie handed the newborn to Carl who started walking towards Hershel, Bridgette and DJ.

"What are we gonna feed it?" Daryl asked, turning away from Rick to look at Hershel as Carl approached the farmer, the surfer and the brickhouse, "We got anything a baby can eat?"

"She looks healthy." Bridgette stated, referring to the baby, with a small relief in her voice. Despise everything that had happened today, and the people they lost, at least the newborn baby seemed to be in good condition.

"She needs formula." Hershel added, "And soon or she won't survive."

"Nope. No way. Not her. We ain't losing anybody else." Daryl shook his head, not wanting to hear about this scenario, slouching his crossbow over his back, "I'm going for a run."

Duncan nodded as he stepped forward, joining Daryl's side, "Right behind you, redneck."

"I'll back you up." Maggie quickly volunteered as well.

Glenn was the next, "I'll go, too."

"I'll go as well." DJ followed, "I'll make sure that we'll get everything we need."

Rick slowly turned his gaze to the axe laying on the ground as Daryl, Duncan, DJ, Maggie and Glenn started readying themselves to go on the run for the supplies for the newborn baby. He got himself back on his feet and came over to the axe, picking it up. He then turned to look the cell block and started moving towards it.

"Rick!" Chris called out to him but got no answer from the leader of the group. He just disappeared from their view when he entered the cell block.

"Come on." Daryl declared as Duncan, DJ, Maggie and Glenn went over to him as Ezekiel and Cody went over to the gate to close it, "We're gonna lose the light."

"There's a Piggly Wiggly on 85." Glenn stated as they stopped in front of the Hyundai.

"No, the baby section's been completely cleared out." DJ shook his head, "Lori asked me and a few others to keep an eye out. Unfortunely, we haven't had much luck."

"Is there any place that hasn't been completely looted?" Daryl wanted to know.

"We saw signs for a shopping center just north of here." Glenn replied.

"Yeah." Maggie nodded in confirmation, "But there's too much debris on the road. A car will never get through there."

"We'll have to use our motorcycles, then." Duncan stated, pointing at his and Daryl's motorcycles, "One of us will have to stay here."

"I'll go." Maggie told him as DJ went over to to the juvie, telling him that he'll go too without saying words..

Glenn came over to her, "No, Maggie, after everything that you've been through, okay, I'll go."

"I want to go." Maggie insisted, "For Lori, I have to."

"Okay." Glenn gave her an uncertain nod of his head, before giving her a quick kiss, "I love you. Be safe."

Maggie gave him an assuring nod, "I will."

In the meantime, Rick was in the cellblock. He growled as he started making his way through the hallways, swinging his axe widly at every walker standing in his way, taking the undead out without giving them a chance to spot his presence.

* * *

The Governor got himself on the porch of one of the building and stared ahead at the people from his community who were all staring at him. He declared loudly, making sure they were going to hear everything he had to say to them, "All right. Hey. First time we gathered,t here was ten of us holed up in an apartment with Spam and saltine crackers. Well, look at us now. We've built a place we can call home. May be held together with duct tape and string,but it works. It's ours. I'll take it. So today we celebrate how far we've come. We remember those we've lost."

He paused for a second and raised his glass in the air, "We raise a glass...to us."

Everyone raised their glasses in the air and cheered out at the same time, "To us!"

The sound of the people cheering rang through Michonne's ears as she opened the doors to the Governor's room. She slowly shut it behind her, and made her way to the furniture where he placed her katana when she arrived in this place. She slouched her blade over her shoulder and closed the furniture before a notebook on the desk caught her attention.

She opened it and quickly read what was written there, before switching to another page where a lot of names were written. There was one name that stood out the most because it was underlined. This name was Penny. There wasn't anything worth reading on another pages, so she closed the notebook.

It was when she spotted some secret doors. She came over to it and tried to open it but stopped when she heard someone coming towards the room. She quickly hid herself, making sure she wasn't going to be spotted as Philip, Milton, Jose and Merle entered the room.

"I love a party as much as the next fella." She heard Milton's voice speak, "Trust me, I love a party. But we're using a lot of resources."

Philip picked up a box with some drinks, and looked at Milton, "Yeah?"

"For instance." Milton began "The generators."

"I thought you love a party." Philip stated, handing the box to Milton, "And you said yourself that there was nothing to worry about last night."

"I said the same thing to him." Jose said, "He told me that he is starting to have seconds thoughts about this."

Merle gave Milton a quick pat on his back, "Come on, Milty, lighten up, for Christ's sake. Let your hair down, man. Have some fun for once. I like fun."

The Governor shrugged, "Then, there's no problem."

"If I might. You know, I've been working on an experiment all week." Milton declared, "It's been a challenge getting the level of power I need. And with everything going on tonight..."

"What are you asking?" Philip asked.

"Postpone tonight." Milton responded.

Merle shook his head, "No way."

"Hang on. Let's hear him out." The Governor said, "How long do you need?"

"10 days." Milton answered.

Philip shook his head, "No."

"Six?" Milton asked.

The answer was the same, "No."

"It you would have told us earlier, then maybe we would consider it." Jose said, earning nods of agreement from the Governor and Merle,"How about you enjoy yourself tonight and then begin the experiment over in the morning, huh?"

Milton gave him an uncertain nod, "Uh, yeah. That could work."

It was the last thing they said to each other before they walked out of the room, leaving Michonne alone who left her hiding place shorty after. She made sure to sneak her way out of Woodbury as quickly as she could, making sure that she won't be spotted in the process.

She found herself in front of an building. She eyed it carefully and her eyes quickly caught the sight of blood covering the walls and the floor. Some of this blood was clearly fresh. She took a few steps to the left when heard some snarling coming for a place a few meters next to her, already assuming to what these snarls are going to lead to her.

She was quickly proven to be right as she came across a cage which was filled with a few walkers. All of them quickly spotted the presence of the dark skinned woman and attempted to leave the cage, but this was pointless because it was locked. Michonne knew that leaving the walkers locked there was a bad idea, especially after hearing the conversation between the Governor, Milton, Merle and Jose.

She opened the gate and started backing away from it as the walkers were finally freed from their prison. She unsheathed her katana as the walkers started getting closer to her. She swung it and the head of one them was cut in the half, the upper half flying away from where it used to be a few seconds later as the first walker collapsed on the ground.

She slammed the back of her blade against the head of another approaching walker, knocking it away from her as before placing the end of her katana in the throat o the third one. The walker that she knocked away a few seconds ago made it's way back to her and this time, she made sure to kill it once and for all by stabbing it right through the middle of it's head.

As another walker joined the corpses on the ground, she quickly turned her gaze towards another walker before cutting it into two parts which fell on the ground only a second later. She moved towards another walker and stabbed it through it's chest with her katana, before using her shoes to kick it off. The walker landed on the ground and she used this occassion to press her shoe against it's head.

The head bursted into pieces, and Michonne was left with only one walker left to take care of. Taking care of it wasn't much of a problem. She simply cut it's head off which went flying away from it's owner's body which landed on the ground only a second later.

She let out an exhale as she had just killed off all the walkers from the cage, one by one.

She didn't even notice how one of the doors in the building was opened and a person stepped out, holding a bucket filled with guts. The person stared at the scene in front of them before dropping the bucket on the ground.

* * *

Getting caught after slaughtering the walkers from the cage didn't end well for Michonne. She was brought back to the Governor's room as the leader of this community clearly wanted to have a small conversation with her.

"You get off on that?" Philip asked as he sat in front of her, holding Michonne's katana which was taken away from her, "Poking around other people's things? Hmm? We got nothing to hide here."

"People with nothing to hide don't usually feel the need to say so." Michonne pointed out.

"That's fair." The Governor stated in return with a small nod of his head, "We all have our secrets, huh?"

Michonne looked up at her, "Like Penny?"

The Governor was silent for a few seconds as he was shocked by the fact that Michonne knew about Penny, "...You know about Penny? Then you know I love her."

"Bet you say that about all the girls." Michonne stated.

"You got the wrong idea about me." Philip began as he stood up from his seat and came closer to her, "I'm just a guy trying to do right by the people I care about. Now, you want to leave, Andrea and Courtney want to stay. So you want me to take choice out of the equation. You want me to kick you out. Actually, I was about to give your sword back. 'Cause you fit in. We've enjoyed having you. This is a real problem for me. People follow the rules. And whether or not it's true, they believe it's what keeps them alive. You've turned that upside down. You've broken the rules. And if I don't do anything,I invite anarchy."

He paused for a second, excepting an answer from Michonne. When he didn't receive it, he continued, "How about this? I keep a lid on your little outburst, you join the research team. You obviously have skills and you're not afraid of biters. Merle will take care of you and then..."

He was cut off as Michonne rose up from her seat, and without any warning, unsheathed her katana. She glared at him and placed the sharp end of it it against his neck, A few seconds passed and the dark skinned woman stopped holding her blade against the Governor's neck and started backing away from him, before leaving the room, slamming the doors behind her.

Alejandro and Cody were busy digging graves for the people they lost during Andrew's attack, eventually trading a word or two with each other when they approached by Axel and Oscar.

"How's the perimeter look?" Alejandro asked them as he continued to dig a grave for T-Dog.

"We got the walkers spread out." Axel answered, as he pointed at the grave Cody was digging, "Need help? Your friends, they were good folks."

Cody let out a sad sigh, "They were."

"Were you close with her?" Axel asked him another question, "That purple haired girl?"

"She was a friend, but she saw me as more than a friend." Cody explained, "She wasn't afraid to show it and many of us, myself included considered her a bit crazy because of that, but she was still a member of our group and she saved my life a few times. This is the least I can for her."

Oscar nodded in understanding, "I think I had one friend like that my whole life. You got a whole group. Sorry you lost 'em."

Alejandro looked up from the grave and saw Heather approaching the fence. He got himself out of the grave and started walking towards her, handing his shovel to Axel, "Help us if you want. I'll be back in a second." He made his way towards the fence and leaned against it, before asking Heather, "How's Rick? Is he still there?"

"Still inside." Heather answered, "Chris and Chef are considering going after him. Leshawna is not leaving her cell and Harold and Gwen are trying the best they can do help her."

Alejandro nodded his head as he looked over his shoulder at Cody, Oscar and Axel, "We lost four of us today. We haven't lost this many since we had to flee the farm."

Heather shook her head, "Cause of one bastard."

"I'm wondering what would happen if we killed those prisoners when we found them in the cafeteria." Alejandro began, "Axel and Oscar may seem like good guys but maybe T-Dog, Lori, Carol and Sierra would be still alive if we killed them."

"What happened, happened, and we can't change that even if we wanted to." Heather stated.

"I know." Alejandro gave her a small nod of his head, "This is the world we live in right now, and we need to except that we may lost someone at any moment."

Heather nodded her head in return. She was silent for a moment before speaking up, "I often think about Lindsay and how much of a bitch I was to her over the course of both of the seasons. I wish there were some things I could change between me and her, and but she's long dead and I'm still here. When her boyfriend to who I was bitch too, died, saving my life, I promised myself that I will make sure his sacrifice won't go in vain, that I'll be a better person to everyone."

"I can assure you, senorita that you've been doing a fine job so far." Alejandro assured her. He never mentioned this to anyone, but he had plan how to win the third season of Total Drama and that would make her look like a saint, but it of course never happened because this thing begun and making enemies among the group of people he was sticking with since the beginning was the last thing he should be doing right now.

"If you say so." Heather said as she looked over his shoulder at Cody, Oscar and Axel, "You need any help?"

* * *

Andrea and Courtney entered their room in Woodbury to be greeted by the view of Michonne packing their things into the bags.

"We gotta go." Michonne declared to them, "We got to go."

"Michonne." Andrea began, "The Governor told us what happened. You can't do things like this. You're freaking people out. You're freaking me out."

"The northeast wall is guarded by some girl." Michonne said, as if she didn't even hear what Andrea just to said to her as she threw a bag into Courtney's arms, "We can escape there after dark."

"What are you talking about?" Courtney asked her, "We are not prisoners here."

"No one who comes here leaves." Michonne stated.

"Michonne, It's safe in here. There's food, there's shelter. There's people who don't want to hurt us," Courtney tried to reason with her, as she placed the bag down, "We're not going to sleep, worried that we may get attacked during the night."

"That's what they show you." Michonne told her in return, "But you can't leave unless they make you."

"You are not making any sense." Andrea stated, "Maybe you need to sit for a minute."

"You need to trust me." Michonne insisted, "Both of you."

"And you need to give me more to go on. We got a good thing going here." Andrea pointed out.

"I thought this was temporary." Michonne pointed out in return.

"I and Andrea discussed this and we both think that we need this." Courtney explained, "We want to give this place a real shot."

"I tried." Michonne told them.

"Breaking into houses? That is not trying." Andrea stated, "That is sabotaging."

Michonne leaned in a bit closer towards them, "This place is not what they say it is."

* * *

Chef and Chris were making their way together through the hallways of the prison. Chris held a flashlight and shined through the tunnels as Chef held his knife in ready, as they were passing through more of fresh bodies of the undead.

They turned around the corner and saw a familiar man holding a bloody axe. Chris came closer to him, "Rick?"

Rick didn't respond to his call. He didn't even turn around to look at him and Chef as they approached them.

"We came here to bring you back to the rest." Chef declared, "They are worried about you and so are we."

Rick once again remained silent, but this time he actually turned around and looked at them.

Chef let out a sad sigh, "We're not going to beg you but come with us, your son needs his father right now."

"You don't have to do this all by yourself." Chris continued as he now stood in front of the sheriff deputy, "Let us bring you back to our group and we..."

The host of Total Drama didn't had a chance to finish what he was saying as Rick grabbed him and pressed him against the wall. Chef knew he had to do something because he had no idea what Rick may do in this state. He didn't want anyone to get hurt, especially after what happened today.

"Rick, I wish either of us could say what you feel right now, but we can't." He began, "I and Chris never had a wife, but at least be thankful that you had one, which loved you to the very end."

The leader of the group turned away from Chris and looked at Chef. He exchanged a look with him before throwing Chris out of his way. The two hosts of Total Drama could only watch how Rick headed into the hallways, once again and disappeared from their view.

* * *

Daryl, Duncan, DJ and Maggie had just made it to their destination. The redneck and the juvie stopped their motorcycles and glanced at the building which they were going to check, and where they would hopefully find some supplies for the newborn baby. They hopped off the motorcycles readied their stuff before hopping over the fence.

Duncan and Daryl stayed on guard as Maggie and DJ started looking for a way to find how to enter this building. They stopped in front of a window and DJ used his pistol to break it into pieces. He exchanged a quick look with Maggie before hopping through the now opened window, and Maggie quickly followed him. They were instantly greeted by the sight of two baby cradles.

He and Maggie took off their backpacks and started searching through every cabinet in the room, finding some of the stuff they needed for the baby as Daryl and Duncan climbed into the room through the window that the brickhouse broke a few moments ago.

Duncan suddenly stopped and stared at the paper hands on the wall which were most likely put by the children in the past. Daryl noticed it and quickly looked at the paper hands as well, to figure out what made the juvie pause. He wished he didn't only a few seconds later, because Duncan was staring at the two hands which said "Sofie" and "Courtney".

He sighed and placed his hand on Duncan's shoulder, offering him a nod and Duncan nodded back. They walked out of the room into the hallway as DJ and Maggie walked closely behind them. They started checking every room in the building, and taking everything they needed for the baby. They stopped when they heard something moving in one of the rooms they haven't checked, yet.

They entered it and quickly found the source of the noise. A closet. and Duncan readied his bow and Daryl did the same with his crossbow while DJ pulled out his knife. Maggie stared at them and all three of them nodded their heads. She opened it and they were instantly greeted by the view of small animal which was immediately killed by Daryl who fired an arrow from his crossbow.

Maggie shook her head, "I'm not putting that in my bag."

"Neither am I." DJ said. He still loved animals, but he accepted the fact that they had to kill every animals they came across if they didn't want to walk hungry a long time ago, "Mine is already filled with the stuff for the baby."

"At least we got ourselves a dinner." Duncan said as he knelt down to put the animal in his bag.

* * *

Michonne, Andrea and Courtney were walking through the streets of Woodbury which were filled people with bags slouched over their shoulders towards their destination which was the main gate.

"Hey, girls!" Merle's voice called out to them as the older Dixon ran over them, "Y'all are breaking my heart running away like that."

"We're leaving." Michonne declared as they kept walking towards the gate.

"It's almost curfew. I'd have to arrange an escort." Merle stated, stopping in front of them, causing them to stop, "I mean,the party's still going on. All right. Wait here a second." He made his way over to the gate and looked up at Martinez who stood on the wall as he was currently the one on the guard, "Brownie. Come here. Listen up, bro."

Andrea exchanged a look with Michonne and Courtney as Merle and Martinez proceede to talk about something with each other. She approached them, "The Governor told us we were free to come and go whenever we liked."

Merle turned away from Martinez and looked at her, "Sweetheart, nothing personal here,but you've gotta have to step back."

Andrea didn't respond to his words. She simply turned away from him and walked back to Michonne and Courtney, "See? There's always a reason why we can't leave yet."

It was when they heard Martinez's voice exclaim, "Clear!"

They turned towards the gate, again and saw Merle leaning against it, "Now if I was y'all, I'd find some shelter before nightfall."

The older Dixon opened the gate, as Michonne shook her head, "They knew we were coming. This was all for show."

"Do you hear yourself?" Andrea asked her, "How can you know that? And why would they bother?"

"Ladies?" Merle called out for them.

Courtney sighed as she turned to look at Merle, "Close the gate, Merle."

"No." Michonne instantly responded to her words.

"Michonne. We practically begged the Governor to let you say. You don't need to trust him, or Merle, or Jose, but how about you trust us?" Courtney asked her, "Trust us on this, Michonne, please. Do you really want to go back there? Do you really want to go back to that life? We spend the last eight months on the road moving place to place, scavenging, living in a meat locker? Do you really want to go back to that?"

If the CIT was honest with herself, the only major reason why would she want to leave Woodbury was looking for her old group, especially for one person from it, but Merle already had planned to go out to look for his brother and offered her to tag along if she decided to stay.

"We're simply afraid you're gonna disappear." Andrea added, "We always talked about this place, didn't we? A refuge. That idea is what kept us going."

"Are you coming or not?" Michonne wanted to know.

Courtney shook her head, "Don't do this, Michonne."

"Don't give us an ultimatum." Andrea told her, "Not after everything."

"Are you coming or not?" Michonne repeated her question. When Andrea and Courtney shook their heads, she walked past them towards the gate and came through it, walking away from Woodbury, "Both of you would just slow me sown anyway."

* * *

The sun was already down. Glenn was staring at the darkened forest when he heard the familiar sound of two motorcycles driving towards the main gate. He instantly knew who just returned from the supply run.

"Noah!" He called out to his friend, "They're back!"

The bookworm nodded his head and opened the gate, allowing the two motocycles to enter the area of the prison as Glenn made sure to kill every walker that was closer to the gate. Noah quickly closed the gate again, and locked it with the chain, making sure that they wouldn't have to deal with more walkers today.

Daryl, Duncan, DJ and Maggie got themselves off the motorcycles as Noah and Glenn ran over to them. All six of them made their to the cellblock to be greeted by the sound of the newborn crying.

"Beth? Bridgette?" Maggie called out for her sister as the was the first one to enter the cell block. Most of the group, even Oscar and Axel was there. Rick was the only one missing.

The two sisters along with Bridgette and DJ made their way over to the empty table and started taking out the stuff they got for the baby out of their bags as Daryl and Duncan walked over to Carl, the former asking, " How's she doing?"

Carl handed his sibling to the younger Dixon who started shushing her while the others prepared the bottle with the milk. Bridgette handed the bottle to the Dixon who started to feed the baby, "Shh...come on. Come on." After a few seconds of feeding he turned his gaze to Carl, "She got a name yet?"

"Not yet." Carl shook his head, "But I was thinking maybe Sophia. Then, there's Carol, too, and Andrea, Courtney, Amy, Sierra, Lindsay, Jacqui. Patricia..." He paused for a second at the thought of this name, "Or...Lori. I don't know."

Duncan sighed and crossed his arms as, Leshawna's, Maggie's and Cody's gaze went to the floor. Everyone else remained silent. The mood in the room was killed, but Daryl knew how to bring it back.

"Yeah...you like that? Huh? Little ass-kicker. Right?" He suggested, as everyone's mood seemed to bright up at his suggestion, "That's a good name, right? Little ass-kicker. You like that, huh? You like that, sweetheart?"

It worked exactly the way as he hoped it would. Everyone in the room smiled and a few of them even laughed

* * *

Rick had no idea for how long he was making his way through the hallways as he entered a room. It could have been minutes, or it could have been hours. He didn't know. He didn't care. He started making his way through the room and stopped when he saw a huge trail of blood. He knelt down when another thing on the floor caught his attention.

He picked it up and stared at it. It was exactly what he thought it was. His wife's ring. He stared it for a few seconds, as if it was the only thing that existed in his mind for a while before he heard some grunting on the other side of the room. His eyes caught the sight of a fat walker leaning against the wall.

He got himself back on his feet and walked over to the walker who started reaching out to him. He slapped it's hand away and placed his boot against it. He got himself on his knees and placed his left hand against the walker's shoulder, making sure to press it against the wall. He placed his Python inside of it''s mouth and let out a long scream as he pulled the trigger.

The Python fired and blood splashed all over the floor as the sheriff deputy just killed this one walker. He holstered his Python as he stood up. staring at the now dead walker in front of him. He pulled out his knife and started to bring it down, repeatedly on the walker's stomach, screaming every second as he did so, cutting it open

* * *

Loud music was playing as the residents of Woodbury were slowly gathering to watch the main event of the festival. The Governor escorted Andrea and Courtney to their seats where Jose was already waiting for them. They sat down as the entire crowd of people cheered.

"It's a little loud." Andrea said to Courtney who nodded in agreement.

A completely new song started playing as the lights were turned on and the people in the audience were greeted by the view of an area which was surrounded by chained walkers. The crowd erupted into louder cheers as Martinez entered the area, holding his hands in the air which was followed by Merle entering the area as well.

Hearing people cheering his name, Merle declared, "I'm gonna kick his ass one-handed! Or better, yet!..." He lay down on the ground and started doing push-ups, "No-handed! Yeah!" He got himself back on his feet and took off his jacket before handing it Tim who stepped away from him and Martinez right after, "All right, let's get it on!"

Tim blew the whistle which meant only one thing and Merle knew that. Martinez approached him, only to receive a kick right to his head, which brought him down the ground. He simply shrugged it off and grinned as he got himself back on his feet. He and Merle stared right into each other before he decided that it was time to strike.

He swung his fist towards the Dixon who ducked it just in time and used this opportunity to bring him down to the ground as one of the chained walkers reached towards him. He quickly crawled away from it as Merle declared to cheering crowd, "He's got nothing. Nothing, folks!"

He turned his gaze away from Martinez and stared at the audience as his opponent went back to his feet and quickly used this ocassion to slam his fist down on Merle's back, this time, making him the one who was brought to the ground. Martinez grinned as he picked Merle up from the ground, wrapping his hands around him.

He brought him closer to the undead as Merle kicked it, before headbutting Martinez with the back of his head, leaving Martinez dozed a bit. The Dixon grabbed his opponent by his arm and threw him on the ground. Martinez clenched his teeth a bit on the impact of the landing, but grin returned to his face just a second later.

Tim looked over at the Governor who nodded his head at him. He nodded in return and it was just a matter of seconds before the chains holding the walkers were loosened a bit. Martinez and Merle didn't seem to care about it. They instead started throwing each other to from one walker to another.

Courtney and Andrea couldn't watch it for any longer. They stood up from their seats and started leaving. Philip saw that and was about to go after them, but Jose patted him on his shoulder, "I'll take care of it."

The spanish young man stood up from his seat and went after Courtney and Andrea, catching up to them several seconds later, "Where are you going?"

"Do you really need to ask us?" Courtney asked him, 'This is sick. What if one of them get's bitten?"

"You don't need to worry about either of them." Jose assured them, "This is staged. I, Merle, Milton, Martinez and Crowley went earlier to get these muertos and we made sure to pull out their teeth. We wouldn't do anything to hurt our people. We simply want them to be entertained a bit. We have the full control of the situation."

He held his hand to them, offering them to go back. Although, they looked a bit hesitant about, they accepted his offer and went back to their seats.

* * *

The sun was starting to rise on the horizon as another day begun. Daryl and Duncan knew what they to do after waking up. They made their way over to the grave which was marked as Carol's. They were both holding Cherokee's Rose. They knelt down in front of the grave and placed the flowers in the middle of the grave, paying their respects for their fallen friend.

They exchanged a look with each other as they got themselves back on their feets. They turned away from the graves and slowly started to head back to the cell block.

Rick spend the entire night in the room where his wife died while giving birth to their daughter. Staring at the walker that ate his wife was the only thing he was doing for all these hours.

It was when he titled his head a bit when a familiar sound rang through his ears.

It was ringing. Ringing of a phone.

He couldn't believe his ears. How was this possible? How was this phone still working? He rose back to his feet and slowly made his way over to the phone and picked it up, answering the call of the person on the other side. He let out a quiet, "...Hello?"


	25. Hounded

Merle made sure to eye his surroundings as he, Tim, Crowley and a new kid who he didn't even knew the name of proceeded to make their way through the forest, intending to fullfil the task which was given to them by the Governor. This task was killing Michonne and bringing her head and katana back to Woodbury.

As they continued to make their way through the woods, they came across a mutilated walker that was arranged in strange fashion. Merle didn't wait long to voice his confusion, "What the hell is this mess?"

Tim pointed his machete at the mess, "She did this."

Merle moved his fake hand back and forth across the mutilated corpse, "It means something the way it's all set up like that."

"The Governor was right to send us out." Tim stated.

The Dixon nodded his head to that as he knelt down in front of it, "Damn straight,Tim. We're doing a righteous public service here."

"Go back." The young man said, causing the other men to turn back to look at him in confusion, "The arms are a G. The legs make an O. And that's a back. It says,"Go back"."

Merle stood up from his knee and clapped his hands, laughing, "This is too good. Look at this. She sent us a biter-gram,y'all."

Tim and Crowley laughed as well, unlike the young man shook his head, "I don't believe this is happening."

Merle's grin faded away from his face as he came over to the young man, grabbing him by his shirt, "What the hell's wrong with you? Now, The Governor chose you 'cause he thought you were ready. I want you to succeed. I do. But if you keep announcing to the world that you're pissing your pants, I'm gonna have to smash your teeth in. Now how do you say your last name?"

"Gargulio." Gargulio answered as Merle let go off his shirt.

"Well, I'm gonna keep calling you Neil. All right?" Merle asked, earning a nervous nod from Gargulio in response, He turned away from the young man and his eyes immediately caught the sight of someone circling around them. He instantly knew who it was as he pulled out his pistol, followed by everyone else, "What's the deal, Michonne? Hmm? You gonna leap out of the woods, one against four, all of us armed to the teeth and you with just your little pig-sticker?"

It was when Michonne jumped off from a tree, landing right behind Tim and Crowley. Neither of the men had time to react as she swung her katana at them. Crowley's head went flying across the ground as it was separated from it's body as Tim quickly aimed his pistol at the dark skinned woman but unfortunely for him, never had a chance to fire it as Michonne impaled him with her katana.

Gargulio was completely terrified as he leaned against a tree and just watched what was happening right before his eyes as Merle turned back to Michonne and started firing his pistol at her. None of the shots hit her as she used Tim's body as a meat shield before running off into the woods, receiving a bullet to the upper part of her leg from Merle who groaned and started chasing her.

* * *

Rick was still having hard time believing that he had actually found a phone that was still working and someone actually called him. He held the phone right next to his ear as he tried to figure out what to say to the person on the other side, but he couldn't.

" _Hello?_ " The person on the other side of the phone who happened to be a woman called out to hi, " _Is-is someone there?_ "

"Yes. Yes." Rick quickly said with a fast nod o his head, "Who is-?"

" _Oh, my god!_ " The unknown woman cut him off with suprise evident in her voice, " _I can't believe someone picked up. We've been calling since it all started._ "

" _Where are you?_ " Rick wanted to know.

" _I can't say._ " The woman answered.

"You could be 1,000 miles away." Rick pointed out, attempting to convice her to tell him her location.

The woman however, didn't change her mind, " _I'm not going to say where we are._ "

"Are you someplace safe?" Rick asked her.

" _Yeah._ " The woman responded, " _And part of it is because we're careful. I can't tell you where we are. I'm sorry._ "

"What makes your place so safe?" Rick asked her another question.

" _It's just...away..._ " The woman said with small pause between the words, " _...from them_."

"I have a son. I have a newborn baby. I'm with a good group of people. Would you be willing-could you take in others?" Rick asked, hoping to convice her, "We can pull our weight. We can help you."

He waited a few seconds before receiving an answer, " _I'd have to talk to the group._ "

"Well, put them on." Rick told her, "Let me make a case."

" _Let me talk to them first._ " The woman insisted.

"Please,please, don't go." Rick pleaded, "Just-please, we're good people here. We just need some help and we can help you."

" _I'll call back in two hours_." The woman declared.

"Please!" Rick cried out as the woman hung up, "You don't understand. You don't know. We're dying. We're dying here."

* * *

The entire group was busy eating their breakfast, eventually trading a word or two with each other. They all stopped what they were doing when Rick walked into the cellblock, all cleaned up.

He looked around his group, "Everybody okay?"

"Yeah." Bridgette gave him a small nod of her head, feeding the baby, "What about you?"

"I cleared out the boiler block." Rick explained.

"How many were there?" Izzy wanted to know, having a chance to hear from Chef and Chris about all of the bodies they passed by while searching for Rick yesterday.

"I don't know. A dozen, two dozen. I have to get back." Rick answered, giving his son a quick pat on his shoulder, "Just wanted to check on Carl."

"Rick, we can handle taking out the bodies." Glenn suggested as he stood up from his seat, "You don't have to."

"He's right." Chef nodded his head in agreement, "Let us handle to the bodies. You need to rest after everything that happened."

"No, I have to do this." Rick said as he looked around his group again, "Everyone have a gun and a knife?"

"Yeah." Daryl nodded his head as Rick turned back to look at him, "We're running low on ammo, though."

"I checked our ammo supply with Zeke and Cody after waking up." Harold added, "What Daryl said is a gentle way of putting."

"Maggie, Gwen, Noah, and me were planning on making a run this afternoon." Glenn declared, "Found a phone book with some places we can hit,look for bullets and formula."

"Izzy and Ezekiel cleared out the generator room while I and Chef were searching for you." Chris added to which the two said teens nodded in confirmation, "Axel's there trying to fix it in case of emergency. We're gonna sweep the lower levels as well."

"Good." Rick nodded his head as he started heading out of the cellblock, "Good."

* * *

Gargulio was on his knees, trying not to throw up at the disgusting scene in front of him as Merle made his way back to him.

"Let's go. I think I hit her." The older Dixon declared, reloading his pistol, "Slowed her down."

"T-Tim and Crowley." Gargulio stuttered out, "They..."

Merle completely ignored what he had just said and continued, "We're close to the red zone. Them shots just pulled every biter in this area our way. Let's go. Get up." Gargulio coughed and remained on his knees, as if he didn't even heard that the Dixon just said to him. Merle called out to him, only to be ignored again. He came over to the young man and kicked him. Gargulio landed on his back, his eyes staring up at Merle who placed his boot on his chest and said, "Now you're gonna rise to the occasion, son. Some serious shit's going down. I need you here. You read me, amigo? I don't want you to die."

"Yes." Gargulio gave him a small nod of his head in response as Merle removed his boot from his chest, "Yes."

"Get up." Merle said, coming over to Tim's body, placing his knived hand through the dead's man brain, "Now you know we don't ever let our own turn. Never. She ain't running, she's hunting and so are we."

* * *

Rick was back in the boiler room, staring at the phone as if it was the only that that existed, waiting for someone to call him. He picked it up a few times, hoping to hear someone's voice speak up to him, but he couldn't hear anything during his attempts. The phone started ringing again as his eyes snapped open, causing him to reach his hand out to him and pick it up.

" _You're the dude that my friend was speaking with?_ " The person he was speaking to was clearly young asked, " _Right?_ "

Rick nodded his head in confirmation, "Yes."

" _And you want to come where we are?_ " The young man asked him another question.

"She said it was safe." Rick pointed out what the woman from earlier said to him.

" _It is._ " The young man confirmed him, " _No attacks, no one's been bit, no one's died, no one's turned, no one's gone crazy. We don't have to worry about these things ripping off a hole in the stomach of our beloved ones or ourselves getting ripped into shreds. I and my girlfriend and our friends have a happy life here, as if this thing never happened. We have a happy lives here, especially that we recently reunited with a few of out friends who we haven't seen in a while._ "

"We want to come where you are." Rick declared.

" _You could be dangerous._ " The young man stated, " _Have you killed anyone?_ "

Rick was silent for a few seconds he tried to remember all of the people he killed since he woke up in the hospital. He killed two people. Dave and Shane, "..Two. One was an outsider who tried to draw on me and the other was one of our own. He lost it."

" _This new world broke him?_ " The young man asked, but for Rick it felt more like a statement than a question.

"Yes." Rick confirmed, "He wasn't himself anymore."

There was a small pause on the other side before the young man spoke up again, "... _How did you lose your wife?_ "

Rick's eyes snapped open in shock. How did this person knew about Lori?, "How did you know I had a wife?"

" _You had a boy and a baby."_ The young man pointed out, causing Rick to be even more shocked _, "Tell me how you lost your wife."_

 _"_ I don't want to talk about that." Rick told him in response and this seemed enough for the young man who hung up, "Hello? Hello?"

* * *

Courtney was sitting on top of one of the walls of Woodbury with Haley, another one of Woodbury residents. She found herself in this position after she and Andrea went to the Governor and told him that now that they are staying in his community, they want to earn their keep.

The CIT turned her gaze away from the road and looked at Haley, "Thank you for doing this."

"No problem, when the Gov asks me to do something, I do it." Haley smiled with a nod of her head, "I figure we can start tomorrow. There's a training area,some hay bales. There's even a bow you can use. It was my old one."

"You must be pretty good." Courtney assumed.

"Yeah. My dad taught me. He used to take me hunting. He wanted me to be in the Olympics." Haley nodded her head with a proud smile as she showed off her bow to the CIT, "This one was his. I mean, it's worth more than my car. It's...awesome. So I totally killed him for it."

"That wasn't why you killed him." Courtney stated.

Haley's smile faded from her face, "No. My dad wasn't himself. My brother wasn't either."

"At least you know what happened to them." Courtney stated, "I haven't seen mine since the beginning."

"This is why I'm grateful that I got to be with my dad and brother, even if it ended with them changing into those things." Haley began, "There was a person in our community, Rodney. He was a bit strange, especially in terms of romance, but was overally good guy. He hasn't seen his family since this begun, just like you because they got separated from each other. When I had a talk with him about it, he said that I should be grateful that I got to spend time with them, that I got to see how they died, because he had no idea how his family is doing, if they're dead or alive, and he unfortunely will never find out now."

"What happened to him?" Courtney asked, already knowing the answer because she didn't recall meeting anyone named Rodney since coming to Woodbury.

"He died during a supply run with Merle and Jose about three weeks before your arrival. One of these things took him by suprise and bit him and it was already too late to do anything when the other found out." Haley answered, confirming Courtney's theory.

Courtney nodded her head in understanding as she turned her gaze back towards the road and spotted a lone walker heading towards the gates. She stood up from her seat, "Walker."

Haley stood up from her seat as well and held her bow out to the CIT, "Want to try?"

"Yes." Courtney nodded her head as she took Haley's bow from her. He loaded an arrow into it and aimed it at the approaching walker. He let out a small exhale and released an arrow, which unfortunely missed her target, "I missed."

Haley patted her shoulder, "Don't worry. Try again."

Courtney loaded another arrow into the bow and waited for the undead to come closer to the gate. He breathed in and out before releasing another arrow, which this time, landed right in the undead's brain, "I got it."

"Nice shot." Haley smiled at her as Courtney handed the bow back to it's owner, "Have you fired a bow before?"

"No." Courtney shook her head, "I knew someone who was using one."

"Oh." Haley nodded in understanding, "What happened to him or her?"

Courtney shrugged, "I don't know. We got separated a few months back."

* * *

Rick was pacing back and forth through the boiler room when he heard someone open a door. He stopped and turned in the direction of the entrance to this room, already reaching for his Python, excepting to see walker, but he quickly found himself to be wrong when he saw Hershel enter the room. The farmer slowly made his way down the stairs.

"May I?" He asked Rick, instantly after making his way down the stairs, gesturing to a chair behind Rick. The sheriff deputy nodded his head and turned around to the chair behind him. He grabbed it and made his way over to Hershel, placing it in front of him. Hershel sat down on the chair and let out a small chuckle, "Still feel it. I'm wiggling my toes right now. I'm a ghost from the knee down."

"I'm sorry." Rick apologized the farmer for cutting his feet off.

"You saved my life, Rick." Hershel pointed out, assuring Rick that he didn't need to apologize for that, "She was sorry for the things that happened. She told me that. She planned on telling you. Take your time, whatever you need. You carried us. You didn't let us give up. You got us here."

"It's not enough." Rick shook his head, "It's not safe enough."

"There isn't anywhere else." Hershel pointed out, "I know you want to get away from this, but we've run already."

Rick rubbed his eyelids, "I got a call."

"What?" Hershel asked with a hint of suprise in his voice.

"Someone called. On this phone. A woman." Rick began his explanation what was making him stay in this room for hours as he moved the phone closer to Hershel, "She was young. She was part of a group. She said they had a safe place. They said they were just dialing numbers and I picked up. She said they'd be calling back. If it sounds right, I want to talk them into taking us in."

Hershel picked the phone up, but the static was the only thing he could hear. He placed it down, "Did she say where they were?"

"No." Rick shook his head, "But it doesn't matter. If it's safe, we'll get there. Don't tell the rest of the group, not yet."

"Even Daryl, Chef and Chris?' Hershel wanted to know.

Rick nodded, "Yes."

"Beth and Bridgette are taking care of your child right now. How about I'll sit here with you. " Hershel suggested, "That's something I'm pretty good at nowadays."

Rick quickly declined his offer, "No."

Hershel nodded his head as got himself off his seat and made his way out of the boiler room, leaving Rick alone.

* * *

Merle and Gargulio had all of their weapons in ready as they were making their way through the forest, following Michonne's trail, making sure to eye their surroundings even more careful than before, not wanting to get taken by suprise by their target again.

The Dixon's eyes widened when he heard someone step on a stick behind them. He turned back to Gargulio to see that Michonne was right behind and was already swinging her katana, intending to finish the young man off.

"Move!" Merle shouted, pushing Gargulio out of Michonne's way. The young man fell on the ground as Michonne swung her katana at Merle who used his knived hand to block her attack, before knocking her blade out of her grasp. The dark skinned woman got herself on the ground and used her current position to kick Merle in his nether regions.

He grunted in pain and leaned down a bit as Michonne kicked him again, this time in the face. Merle collapsed on top of her, before rolling himself out of her, both of them groaning in pain. Merle's vision became blury after the kick he received from his target as he looked around himself to see a few undead heading towards them. He got himself on his knee and as one of the walker lunged for him, only to be blocked by Merle's fake hand before it could do anything.

Michonne was having trouble as well as she was doing her best to crawl over to her katana without getting bitten or killed by the walker that was currently approaching her. She grabbed the handle of her katana and quickly swung it at the undead, cutting it's stomach open. All of it's insides spilled on top of her as she closed her mouth and eyes, in both disgust and to make sure that none of it was going to get there.

Merle was still having trouble with holding a walker off as Gargulio came to his aid and stabbed the walker right through it's head with his machete. Merle pushed the now dead walker aside as another one came over to him, but this time, the Dixon took care of the threat without any problem. He let out a deep breath before he and Gargulio looked around themselves, only to see that Michonne was gone and was nowhere to be seen.

"You rose to the occasion, kid." Merle told Gargulio, turning in the direction of Woodbury, "When we get back, I'm gonna get you a beer."

"Come on, she can't have made it that far." Gargulio stated, pointing his machete in the direction in which Michonne could went.

"We're done." Merle shook his head, "We're gonna grab a car, haul ass home. It's been a good day's work."

"She killed Tim and Crowley." Gargulio pointed out.

"Yep, but we messed her up pretty bad." Merle pointed out in return, "Anyway, she's headed straight for the red zone. She's as good as dead."

"What do we tell The Governor?" Gargulio wanted to know.

"What the hell you think we tell him?" Merle answered as if it was the most obvious question he has heard in his entire life, "Tell him we killed her. Like I said,man, she's as good as dead."

Gargulio shook his head to that, "I'm gonna keep going."

"She ain't right in the head. She's gonna die." Merle stated, "Ain't worth our time. Definitely ain't worth our blood. Now let's go."

The Dixon started making way back to the car which they used to get to this forest, but stopped when Gargulio said, "This is some serious shit. That's what you said. I'm not gonna lie to The Governor about it."

"You're right." He nodded his head, turning to look at Gargulio again, "Can't cut corners on this one. You've come along pretty quick there,kid. How do you say your name again?"

"Gargulio." Gargulio reintroduced himself to him as some bird started making noises in the background.

"You heard that bird?" Merle asked as Gargulio turned his gaze in the direction of a bird and it was the last thing he has ever done as Merle pulled out his pistol and shot him right in the head, killing him instantly. Gargulio fell down like a ton of bricks as Merle reached down and picked up the now dead young man's pistol, "Gargulio."

* * *

Daryl, Carl, Oscar, Duncan, Harold and Izzy were making their way through the prison hallways. Izzy, Duncan and Daryl walked in front of the group with their weapons out in ready just in case if they came across the undead on their way as Oscar, Harold and Carl walked closely behind them, the former two holding a flashlight.

"Check it out, guys." Oscar said as he shined at one of the cells to see a walker that their group must have missed, "Must have missed it last night."

"I'll take care of it." Izzy immediately volunteered to take care of the undead as she came over to the cell with it inside. She placed her hunting knife right in it's brain, killing it instantly. She pulled her knife out of it's head as the now dead body collapsed on the floor, "It's done. Let's go."

They started moving through the hallways again as Daryl slowed his pace a bit, allowing Carl to catch up to him, because there was something he wanted to tell him, "You know, my mom, she liked her wine. She liked to smoke in bed. Virginia Slims. I was playing out with the kids in the neighborhood. I could do that with Merle gone. They had bikes ,I didn't. We heard sirens getting louder. They jumped on their bikes, ran after it,you know, hoping to see something worth seeing. I ran after them, but I couldn't keep up. I ran around a corner and saw my friends looking at me. Hell, I saw everybody looking at me. Fire trucks everywhere. People from the neighborhood. It was my house they were there for. It was my mom in bed burnt down to nothing. That was the hard part. You know, she was just gone. Erased. Nothing left of her. People said it was better that way. I don't know. Just made it seem like it wasn't real, you know?"

"I shot my mom. She was out. Hadn't turned yet. I ended it. It was real." Carl told him in response as he looked up at the Dixon while Duncan, Harold, Izzy and Oscar decided to remain silent, "Sorry about your mom."

"I'm sorry about yours." Daryl said, to which Carl gave him a small nod of his head in response.

* * *

Rick was staring right at the phone when he received another call from the people he's been receiving calls from today. He quickly reached down for it and picked it up, placing it right next to his ear, "Hello?"

He was met with nothing but silence which remained for a few seconds before a woman spoke up, this one was definitely a bit older than the one he had conversation with earlier, " _You didn't want to tell him how your wife died?_ "

"No, I just lost her, but..." Rick paused for a second, "But if that's what it takes..."

" _It'd be good._ " The woman stated, " _You should talk about it, Rick._ "

"That sounds..." Rick stopped himself from saying more when he realization that this woman just said his did she knew his name?, "How do you know my name?"

He never got the answer to his question as the woman hung up, without saying more words to him.

* * *

Michonne headed to a tree where she hid her supplies before attacking Merle and his group. She quickly took everything out and slouched her backpack over her shoulder when she heard grunting and snarling which was getting louder and louder coming from her left. She turned towards the sound and saw a few walkers heading right towards her.

She reached for her sword and was about to pull it out to get rid of the approaching walkers but stopped herself from doing so when the walkers completely ignored her and walked past her, as if she didn't even existed. She looked down at the blood covered body and realized that the blood was covering her scent and the undead thought she was one of their own.

She started walking forward herself, not wanting to spend more time in this forest and wanting to get out of it as fast as possible, especially now that she was hurt from the gunshot she got from Merle, eventually making her way to a small town.

She started walking between the cars of the parking lot when she saw a car pop out of nowhere. Already assuming to be Merle or someone else from the Woodbury, she hid between the cars and just observed the people that just arrived in this town as Glenn, Maggie, Gwen and Noah got themselves out of the car.

Gwen looked around herself, "Town looks clear to me."

"It may seem clear, but I still wouldn't put my guard down." Noah stated, to which Gwen gave him a short nod of agreement.

The asian man pointed at the market, "Let's take a look."

"Hey." Maggie said, coming over to him, and giving him a quick kiss, "It's a beautiful day."

Noah rolled his eyes, "Get a room you two. I'd like to point out that you're not alone on this run."

Glenn and Maggie grinned, knowing that Noah was trying to mess with them as all four of them headed into the market, hoping to find some supplies for baby and the group in this building.

Michonne didn't left the area right after they entered the market. She continued to watch the area from her hidden position between the cars for the next several minutes and just waited for them come out.

Glenn was the first one come out from the market, holding a basket filled with the baby formula, "We just hit the powdered formula jackpot."

"We also got a bunch of other stuff too." Gwen said, smilling at how sucessful this supply run was. She glanced at the basket she was carrying before placing it in the car, "Beans, batteries, cocktail wieners and many mustards, only a name of few."

"If we'll head out now, then make it to the prison just in time for dinner." Glenn stated.

"I like the quiet." Maggie stated, "Back there, back home,you can always hear them outside the fence no matter where you are."

It was when completely out of the sudden, they heard a male voice say, "And where is it y'all good people are calling home?"

Noah, Glenn, Maggie and Gwen quickly stopped everything they were doing and turned towards the source of the voice to see a man apporaching them with his pistol aimed at them. They didn't waste any time and quickly pulled out their guns and aimed them at him, before he could do any harm to them.

Gwen narrowed her eyes and lowered her handgun a bit when she got the feeling that she saw this man somewhere before. Her eyes snapped open in realization, "Wait a second."

"Is that?" Glenn followed, feeling his eyes widen as well.

"Merle?" Noah asked, leaning forward a bit to check if his mind wasn't playing tricks with him as Maggie send all three of them a quick glance before turning her gaze back to Merle. The bookworm shook his head when he realized that Merle Dixon was indeed standing in front of them. Perfect. The last thing this group needed right now was coming across a guy who they left to behind handcuffed to a pipe on a rooftop in a walker infested city a while ago.

Merle's reaction was completely opposite to theirs. He laughed with a grin starting to form on his lips. He placed his pistol on the ground and raised his hands in the air, beginning to approach them, "Wow!"

"Back the hell up!" Maggie shouted to him.

Merle did as he was told to and backed down a bit, "Okay, honey. Jesus."

"You made it." Glenn stated, his eyes wide in shock.

"We weren't excepting to see you ever again." Gwen added, as much shocked as Glenn was.

"Can you tell me, is my brother alive?" Merle wanted to know.

Glenn nodded in confirmation, "Yeah."

"Hey, you take me to him and I'll call it even on everything that happened up there in Atlanta. No hard feelings." Merle offered, but received no answer from any of the people from his old group. He quickly noticed them staring at his new hand, "Huh? You like that? Yeah. Well, I found myself a medical supply warehouse. Fixed it up myself. Well, pretty cool, huh?"

"We'll tell Daryl you're here and he'll come out to meet you." Gwen told him, not trusting Merle.

"Hold up, guys." Merle told them, "The fact that we found each other is a miracle. Come on, now. You can trust me.."

"Of course, we will instantly take you to where we are currently staying. Your history with our group and the fact that you have some fresh blood on your face really assures us that it is going to end well for everyone." Noah stated in his sarcastic tone that the entire group heard so many times, keeping his handgun aimed at the older Dixon.

Merle chuckled at Noah's words before pulling out his other pistol. He aimed it at Glenn, Maggie, Gwen and Noah and fired it, causing the window of the trunk of the car to burst into hundreds of pieces. All four of them scattered as Merle moved after them, catching the older Greene pretty quickly, which Noah didn't fail to notice. The bookworm made his way over to them, only to receive a powerful punch right to his face and it was enough to knock him down.

Noah's unconsciouss body collapsed on the ground as Glenn and Gwen passed by his body to see that Merle had his pistol pressed against Maggie's forehead, "Hold up, buddy, hold up."

Glenn glared at the older Dixon, "Let go of her!."

"You heard him." Gwen glared at Merle as well, "Let go off her."

Not wanting Merle to do anything to Maggie, Glenn and Gwen obeyed and placed their guns in the car, the former saying to him, "We're not going back to our camp."

"No, we're going somewhere else." Merle declared as he pointed at Noah's body which was laying behind Gwen and Glenn, "Gweny, you place the sarcastic asshole in the car, as for you Glenn, you get in there. You're driving! Move!"

Glenn started making way towards the driver seat, slamming the doors of the passengers seats in the back in anger as Gwen went over to Noah's unconsciouss body and picked it up. Merle got himself and Maggie into the car as the goth placed Noah in the backseat of the vehicle before getting herself into it as well, right before Glenn started it up and started driving in the direction that Merle told him to drive.

* * *

Daryl, Duncan, Carl and Oscar walked together through the hallways of the prison as Izzy and Harold decided to separate from them in order to get over with this faster.

Oscar felt a grin forming on his lips when he spotted something laying in one of the cells, "Oh, that's what I'm talking about."

Duncan, Carl and Daryl turned back to see the former prisoner walking into one of the cells they passed by. They made their way back to the cell that he just entered to see him holding a pair of slippers.

"What the hell you need slippers for?" Duncan asked the former prisoner, confused.

"You know, end of the day relaxing." Oscar answered.

Daryl and Duncan exchanged a confused look with each other as Carl simply shrugged his shoulders to that. A few seconds later they could hear someone rushing over to them. They got themselves out of the cell to see Izzy and Harold.

"What happened?" Carl asked them.

"There is something that we found and we thought you should take a look at this." Izzy answered.

"Let's go check it out, then." Duncan stated.

"There's no need to. We brought it with ourselves." Harold said, holding out a bloody knife, allowing Duncan, Daryl, Carl and Oscar to take a good look at this.

Daryl and Duncan could feel how their eyes snapped open at the view of a knife that Harold was holding when they recalled only one person from their group who was using a knife like this.

"That's Carol's knife." Daryl stated.

"She might be still alive." Duncan added.

* * *

Rick had his hands pressed against the sides of his head when the phone started ringing again. He picked it up, once again and instantly asked the person on the other side, "How did you know my name?"

Another new person, once again a woman, answered, " _Because we know you._ "

"How do you know me?" Rick wanted to know.

" _The people you were talking to today._ " The unknown woman began, " _That was Amy, Tyler, and Jacqui._ "

Rick's breathing became deeper and faster when a realization of who he was speaking to right now appeared in his mind. He could feel tears forming in his eyes, "Lori?"

" _What happened, Rick?_ " Lori asked as Rick completely broke down and tears started dropping down his cheeks, " _Baby, what happened?_ "

"I couldn't put it back together. I made a deal with myself. I would keep you alive." Rick began, sobbing, "I'd find a place. I would fix that. And then, I couldn't open that door. I couldn't risk it. I was gonna keep you alive. Carl, the baby. And then... I thought there'd be time. There's never time. But I love you. I love you. I couldn't put it back together. I should have said it. I should have said it..."

" _R_ _ick. Now you listen to me. You have a baby. Our baby. And Carl. And the others. I love you. Rick. Can you do that?_ " Lori asked Rick, but her husband remained silent. " _Can you do that? Rick? Rick? Rick?"_

* * *

Merle had just made it back to Woodbury and was making his way to the Governor's house to inform him about everything that had happened to day when he heard a familiar voice which belonged to Jose called out to him, "Merle! Where are you going?"

"To the Governor." Merle answered as Jose catched up to him, "I need to tell him something."

"Let's hope we'll arrive in the right time for him to answer the doors." Jose answered, now walking next to Merle.

"What do you mean?" Merle asked him, confused.

"Let's just say that he and Andrea got overly touchy with each other today." Jose answered, "You know what I mean."

"Oh." Merle grinned, "I see."

"How did the run go?" Jose asked him, "Did you get her?"

"You'll find soon." Merle answered.

Jose nodded his head to that as both of them made their way over to the Governor's room. Merle knocked on it and Philip asnwered it after a moment, wearing a dressing-grown.

"How did it went?" He asked Merle.

"We lost all three guys." Merle answered as the Governor and Jose exchanged a look with each other before sighing at the news that three of their people were gone, "Tim, Crowley, the other one."

"Mierda." Jose cursed as he crossed his arms, "They were good guys."

Philip shook his head, "Jesus."

"She cut Tim down, put her sword through him." Merle explained, "Then biters got in the middle of it, then I got her."

"Well, we'll dress it up. Give them a hero's funeral. You tell a story. A supply run gone sideways." Philip said to Merle who nodded his head, "Do you have them? Her head. The sword."

"We got caught in a crowd. The kid had the head, Crowley had the sword. They both got all tore up." Merle explained as the Governor seemed a bit disappointed by this fact, but was overally relieved that Michonne was not going to cause more trouble to him, "I got something else for you, though, which is something that I'm sure Jose here will like. Two guys and one girl I used to know from the Atlanta camp and pretty little girlfriend of one of these guys."

"What?" Jose asked, "You brought people here that my little hermano was traveling with after they left you on the roof?"

Merle nodded his head in confirmation with a small grin, "This is exactly what I did, amigo."

"You were right." Jose said, with a grin starting to form on his lips, despise the fact that he just found out that three people from Woodbury died, "I like this news."

"They know Andrea and Courtney?" Philip wanted to know to which Merle nodded in confirmation, "Anyone else?"

"Don't know." Merle shrugged, "Found them on the return trip. From the looks of them, they got to be set up pretty good. I'll find out where."

Philip turned to look at Jose, "Help him find out where their camp is."

Jose nodded his head, "Will do, amigo."

* * *

Rick walked out of the boiler room and made his way back to the cellblock where Carl, Beth, Bridgette, Hershel, Cody, DJ and Leshawna were currently staying at. He walked over to DJ who was holding his baby and the brickhouse gently handed over the baby to her father. Rick carefully held his daughter in front of him as a smile started forming on his lips as everyone in the cellblock smiled at the view.

Daryl, Duncan, Harold and Izzy were busy making their way through the hallways, looking for any trail that could lead them to Carol who despise what the entire group thought, might have been still alive.

They stopped for a second when they heard something moving behind one of the doors. Daryl groaned as he pulled out his knife and opened the doors, only to be greeted by the sight of exhausted Carol. She was still alive, after all. The short haired woman looked up at Daryl, Duncan, Izzy and Harold who were looking at her with happy and relieved expression that at least one more person made out alive from Andrew's attack.

Daryl reached down and picked Carol up in bridal style. He along with Duncan, Izzy, and Harold started taking her back to her group. Duncan could feel someone pat him on his shoulder and he turned to look at this person to see Harold. The nerd smiled at him and the juvie smiled back.

Rick, Carl, Hershel, Beth, Cody, DJ, Bridgette and Leshawna walked out of the cellblock to get some fresh air, with Rick still carrying his newborn daughter. There were a few other people outside alongside them. Chris was in the watch tower on the guard duty, watching over the fields as Alejandro and Heather sat together by the table, talking about something.

The sheriff deputy turned his gaze towards his son and smiled, "She looks like you."

"Guys!" Chris called out to them from the watch tower, as everyone looked up at the host of Total Drama who was holding his rifle, "There's someone coming and I don't think it's a walker!"

"Can you hold her?" Rick asked his son instantly after hearing this information.

Carl nodded his head as his father handed him his sister, "Yeah."

"Heather, Alejandro." Rick called out to the two people by the table, "Come with me."

He didn't had to wait long for their response. Heather and Alejandro nodded their heads and came over to him. They went into the fields and started walking over to the fence as Chris continued to observe lone figure that he had just spotted through the scope of his rifle.

All three of them pulled out and readied their guns when they stopped in front of the fence, only to be greeted by the sight of a blood covered Michonne who was carrying a basket with the baby formula.

* * *

**Happy new year everyone! Let's hope that 2021 will be better than 2020.**

**Now that Glenn, Noah, Maggie and Gwen were kidnapped by Merle and taken to Woodbury, I have a small question to you.**

**That question is: Who do you think is going to join Rick, Michonne, Daryl and Oscar on their rescue mission to Woodbury? A small hint, they will be joined by four TD characters.**


	26. When the Dead Come Knocking

The saying that Gwen, Noah and Glenn were not having the time of their lives was the understamement of the century. Merle and Jose were doing everything they could to make them spill the beans about the location of their current camp, and for now none of their attempts worked. Glenn's and Noah's faces was covered with bruises and even blood was dripping from Noah's botton lip. Gwen wasn't looking as bad as they did, but still had a few bruises on her face.

"All three of you don't even know why you're here, do you? I didn't mean you no harm to any of you." Merle told them, dragging his knived hand along the table, "I lowered my gun but you raised yours. You an asshole out there. Just like you were on that rooftop back in Atlanta. What y'all did, leaving me up there? People wouldn't do that to an animal."

"Maybe they wouldn't leave you behind if you didn't actually act like one." Noah pointed out to the Dixon, glaring up at him, as Merle turned to look him and glared, "Oh, I'm sorry. Did I hurt Merle's Dixon little feelings?"

"We came back for you." Glenn added, trying to cover Noah's response.

"Ain't you thoughtful?" Merle stated, turning his attention back to the asian man as he send Jose a quick glance, "Right, amigo?"

Jose nodded in agreement, "Yup."

"We did. All of us." Glenn began, "Rick, Daryl, Chef, Duncan, Harold, T-Dog..."

"T-Dog." Merle nodded in acknowledgment, "Yeah, big old spear chucker. The one who I was pleading with. The one that dropped the key. Tell me where's that? I'm sure T-Dog would like to bury the hatchet, let bygones be bygones."

"He didn't make it." Gwen answered with a sigh as the memories of Andrew's attack flew through her head, "We lost him only a few days ago."

"Well, I hope he went slow." Merle stated as he leaned in a bit towards Glenn, "Yeah. How about the rest? Hm? How about my baby brother?"

"Or my little hermano?" Jose added, as he placed his hands on Noah's shoulder, causing the bookworm to look up at him and glare, "Are you planning to tell me if he's alive or not?"

Seeing that none of their prisoners responded, Merle said to Glenn, knowing what he should say next to make him talk, "No? Or maybe the farmer's daughter will help us out? Tell me something- when she's scared and she's holding you close and her trembling skin is close to you, her soft lips touching you, here, all over here and over here... huh. Feels good, don't it? I remember you. Yeah. You're the sneaky one. The one with nerve. You don't scare easy, do you? I like that." He placed his hand on Glenn's forehead and pressed his knived hand over his lips, "Now, I wanna know where my brother is."

Gwen's face twisted a bit when she saw how Merle placed his knife over Glenn's which Jose didn't fail to notice. He removed his hands from Noah's shoulder and reached into his right boot, pulling out a small knife. He always carried two knives with him. One on his pocket and one his boot. He always hid extra knife in his boot just in case if he'll end up needing an extra weapon at some point.

"Tell me, senorita." He told Gwen, looking at the goth, as he placed his knife on Noah's shoulder, close to the bookworm's neck, "Where is your camp? We want to know. Tell us."

* * *

Rick, Alejandro and Heather continued to stare at Michonne who grunted in pain and placed her hand on the gunshot which he recently got from Merle. The walker next to her turned it's gaze towards her as it seemed to spot that Michonne was not one of them. The dark skinned woman started backing away from it, reaching for her katana and more walkers started to notice her as well.

"Should we help her?" Alejandro asked, watching it along with the sheriff deputy and Heather as Michonne stabbed the first walker right through it's brain, getting rid of it instantly.

The leader of the group nodded his head and started making his way towards the main gate along with Alejandro and Heather as Michonne swung her sword at the approaching walker, cutting it's head off. She was about to swing her sword at another walker, but stopped out of he sudden as she could feel herself becoming more weaker, only seconds before she collapsed on the ground.

Her vision was blurry when two walkers started reaching out towards her stomach, intending to torn a hole in it, but fortunely for the dark skineed woman, Chris fired his rifle from the watch tower. He didn't miss a single shot as the two walkers fell on the ground, dead, while Rick, Alejandro and Heather made their way over to the main gate.

Rick opened the main gate, before pulling out his Python as Heather and Alejandro did the same with their pistols. They started clearing the area out of walkers as Chris assisted them from his position. Heather ran over to the basket with the baby formula that Michonne left in front of the fence when the undead noticed her and quickly picked it up.

She started walking towards the gate as Rick and Alejandro stopped in front of this woman that was unknown for them and knelt down, starting to search for any bites, finding only one gunshot.

"Was she bit?" Heather wanted to know.

"No." Rick shook his head, "Gunshot."

He and Alejandro lifted Michonne up from the ground, wrapping her arms around their shoulders and started taking her into the prison area on the other side of the fence as Heather closed the gate, making sure that the walkers weren't going to get in.

They took her straight to their living area in the cellblock and everyone who was outside with them at this moment followed them inside. Rick and Alejandro who were still carrying Michonne were the first ones to enter it.

"Carl, get a blanket." Rick told his son, "Beth, towels and water."

Carl nodded as he ran over to the container and pulled out a blanket, "Here?"

"She's not coming in the cellblocks." Rick answered as Carl placed a blanket over the floor, before his father and Alejandro gently placed Michonne on the floor. Bridgette ran over to them with some water and spilled some of it over Michonne's upper body as the sheriff deputy said to the dark skinned woman, "Look at me. We aren't gonna hurt you unless you try something stupid first, alright?"

"Guys?" Everyone turned to the source of the voice to see Daryl, Duncan, Harold and Izzy coming out of the cellbock into the room leading into it.

"What is going on?" Izzy asked, confused as her eyes caught the sight of the wounded black skinned woman on the floor.

Harold stared at the scene in front of him in confusion, "Who is she?

"You wanna tell us your name?" Rick asked Michonne, but received no answer from her, "You wanna tell us your name?"

"Y'all come on in here." Daryl declared.

Rick turned away from Michonne and looked at Daryl, Izzy, Duncan and Harold, "Everything alright?"

"Trust us." Duncan told him, "You're gonna want to see this."

"Go ahead. Cody, get the bag." Rick told his group as looked at them. Cody went over to get the bag as everyone started walking towards the cellblock. Rick looked down at Michonne as Cody walked past him, carrying the bag and the basket the stuff for the baby, "We'll keep this safe and sound. The doors are all locked. You'll be safe here and we can treat that."

"I didn't ask for your help." Michonne told him, coldly.

"Doesn't matter." Rick stated as he turned away from her and entered the cellblock, allowing Harold to shut the gate, "Can't let you leave."

"What do you want to show us?" Bridgette asked Daryl, Duncan, Izzy and Harold.

"Follow us." Daryl said, beginning to led the group across the cellblock along with Duncan, Izzy and Harold.

Rick and Chris walked in front of the group and were the first ones to see the thing that the four members of their group wanted to show them. It was Carol. The short haired woman sat up on the bunk bed and smiled at them.

"Thank, god." Rick said as he entered the cell, bringing Carol into a hug as Chris smiled, happy that at least one more member of the group made it out alive from Andrew's attack, "Thank, god."

DJ smiled as he turned to look at Duncan, asking his friend, "How?"

"We found her in one of the cells. She got lucky that Harold and Izzy found her knife when we were checking the hallways for any walkers." Duncan smiled in return, "Otherwise she'd still be out there."

Rick released Carol from the hug and the short haired's woman's eyes quickly caught the sight of smilling Bridgette who was holding the newborn baby. She looked at Rick again, smilling but her smile faded away when she realized that Lori was nowhere to be seen, instantly coming to a conclusion that the baby's mother didn't survive.

* * *

Sometime later, Rick, Daryl, Chris, Chef, Hershel and Bridgette walked out of the cellblock into the room where they were keeping Michonne who was sitting on one of the chairs. The sheriff deputy stopped in front of the dark skinned woman as Chef, Daryl and Chris stood next to him, holding their weapons in ready just in case if Michonne didn't had the best intentions while Hershel and Bridgette stood behind them, with the medical supplies.

"We can tend to that wound for you, give you a little food and water, send you on your way." Rick began, "But you're gonna have to tell us how you found us and why you were carrying formula."

"The supplies were dropped by a young asian guy, some guy who likes to use sarcasm, a pretty girl and a goth looking girl." Michonne explained.

Rick exchanged a look with his group, knowing that she was referring to Glenn, Noah, Gwen and Maggie as Bridgette asked her, sounding a bit worried, "What happened to them? Were they attacked?"

"They were taken." Michonne answered.

"Taken?" Hershel asked, wanting to be sure if he didn't misheard it, "By who?"

"By the same son of a bitch who shot me." Michonne replied.

"Hey, these are our people." Rick said as he placed his hand on Michonne's wound, putting some pressure on it, "You tell us what happened now."

Michonne stood up as Daryl, Chef, and Chris aimed their guns at her, "Don't you ever touch me again!"

"Better start talking or you'll have a much bigger problem than a gunshot wound." Daryl said to Michonne while pointing his crossbow at her.

"We are after a few tough days where we lost a few people from our group." Chef added, "Tell us where they were taken, because you don't want to see how much we care about our people."

"Find them yourself." Michonne told them.

"Put it down." Rick ordered Daryl, Chef and Chris who obeyed and lowered their guns, "You came here for a reason."

"There's a town." Michonne said, "Woodbury. Seventy five survivors. I think they were taken there."

"A whole town?" Rick asked her.

"It's run by this guy, calls himself the Governor." Michonne explained, "Pretty boy, charming, Jim Jones type."

"He got any soldiers?" Chef wanted to know.

"Pair of military wannabes." Michonne answered, "They have armed centries on every wall."

"You know a way in?" Rick asked her another question.

"Place is secure from walkers but we could slip our way through." Michonne replied.

"How'd you know how to get here?" Daryl wanted to know.

"They mentioned a prison, said which direction it was in, said it was a straight shot." Michonne explained.

Rick nodded his head as he pointed at Hershel and Bridgette, "This is Hershel and Bridgette. Hershel is the father of one the girls who were taken. They'll take care of that."

* * *

Gwen spit some blood on the floor as she stared at Noah and Glenn who were heavily breathing as they were in much worse state than they were Merle and Jose started interrogating them and the worst part about it was the fact that they still had no idea where Maggie was.

"I gotta hand it to all three of you. Lot tougher than I remembered. No surprise you lasted this long. Especially you, Noah, I thought you'll be one of the first ones to die along with your fat friend." Merle stated, "Shoot, I figured the way officer friendly abandoned people, he would've left you behind by now. But he didn't do that, did he? Hm? So tell me, where y'all been at?"

Glenn sighed, "It's just a matter of time before they come looking."

"We'll bake them a welcomin cake. I'm sure that Jose here would like to show off his baking skills to them." Merle said, sarcastically, "Would they like that? Ain't nobody coming."

Gwen glared at Merle and Jose, "They are, and when they will get here."

Jose cut her off, "They're gonna do nothing. Not if they wants all of four of you. Think we're in this by myself?"

"No. We're don't." Noah said, "We'd be idiots if we thought like that."

"You have a response for everything, don't you?" Jose asked Noah as he slapped the bookworm across his cheek, making Gwen and Glenn flinch a bit, "That's a shame you can't tell me where Al is."

"We've been on the road." Glenn declared, "Not hiding in some dungeon. Rick, Shane, Chef, Chris, Dale, Tyler, Jim, Andrea..."

Merle exchanged a look with Jose, "Really? Is that right?"

* * *

Bridgette was busy stitching up Michonne's wound as Hershel was watching over the surfer, making sure she was going to do everything right. Ezekiel and Carl stood on the other side of the room with their hands on their pistols just in case if Michonne tried anything.

"Am I doing everything right?" The surfer asked the farmer, a little nervous.

"Don't worry." Hershel assured her, "You're doing everything exactly the way you're suppose to."

"Okay." Bridgette nodded her head, "Just wanted to be sure."

Michonne stared at them for a few seconds, before saying, "Thank you."

In the meantime in the cellblock, the group was in the middle of a heated debate about the information they got from Michonne about Glenn, Gwen, Noah and Maggie and the fact that they were kidnapped to a place named Woodbury by some unknown man.

"How do you know we can trust her?" Oscar asked.

"I don't know, Oscar." Harold said, "But this is the only information our group has about them. We can't just ignore it."

"This is Maggie, Gwen, Noah and Glenn." Beth stepped forward, "Why are we even debating?"

"Don't worry, girlie, we ain't." Chef said, "Someone has to go to this Woodbury and get them. I'd like to be the first volunteer."

"This place sounds pretty secure." Rick stated, "You can't go alone."

"He won't." Daryl spoke up, "I'm going too."

Duncan nodded his head to that, "If the redneck here is going, then you can count me in too."

"I'm going with them." Izzy volunteered.

"I'm in." Oscar nodded his head.

"Uh, why not." Alejandro said as he stepped forward, "Room for one more?"

The group consisting of Rick, Daryl, Oscar, Michonne, Chef, Duncan, Izzy and Alejandro seemed to be enough to go on the rescue mission. The group headed outside and started preparing everything into the Hyundai and the car that Chef got from the gas station at the start of all of this.

"Hey, Chef." Alejandro said, coming over to the co-host of Total Drama who was about to place his shotgun in the trunk.

Chef turned to look him, "What?"

"Rick told me to give you this." Alejandro said, holding out an M16 that the group found while being on the road to him. They didn't use it that much because they kept it for the emergency situations, like this one, "You're one of the people that have the most experience with guns in our group."

Chef nodded his head as he took the M16 from Alejandro, "Thank you."

"What are you going to do with your shotgun now?" Alejandro asked him, adjusting a scoped machine rifle which he had slouched over his back a moment ago.

"I think I know what." Chef answered as he turned to look at Izzy who was having a conversation with Duncan who was wielding a Colt Model 933, which was another gun that the group found while being on the road, intending to use it well during this rescue mission, "Hey, crazy girl."

Izzy looked at the co-host of Total Drama, "Yes?"

Chef threw his shotgun over to the orange haired girl who caught it without any problem, "Use it well during our mission, soldier."

Izzy grinned and gave him a small salute with her free hand, "I will, Chef."

"Chris." Rick said to the host of Total Drama, as he approached him.

Chris looked at him in response, "Yes, Rick?"

"Kept this place safe along with Hershel while we'll be gone." Rick told him.

"You can count on it." Chris gave him an assuring nod, "Good luck on your mission. Bring all of them back."

Rick responded with a nod of his own as he came over to his son, wanting to have a talk with him before leaving, "Carl. What you did..."

Carl cut him off, already knowing that his father was going to say to him, "I had to."

"I know." Rick gave him a sad nod of his head, "I know and I'm sorry. No one should have to go through that."

"How long will you be gone?" Carl asked his father.

"If something happens, you help Chris and Harold to get everyone locked in the cells, you keep them all safe." Rick answered.

Carl nodded his head, "I will."

"I know. I know you will." Rick assured him, "Take care of your sister, alright?"

"Daryl's been calling her asskicker." Carl told his father.

"Asskicker?" Rick chuckled, "Has he now?"

"I've been thinking what should we really call her." Carl explained.

"What do you think?" Rick asked his son.

"You remember my third grade teacher?" Carl asked him in return, "Mrs Miellar?"

Rick nodded, "Of course."

"Her first name was Judith." Carl explained, "You think thats a good name?"

"I think that's a fine name." Rick smiled with a nod of his head, "Judith it is."

He patted his son on his shoulder and started walking towards the vehicles and with that, everyone said their final good lucks to all eight people who volunteered to go on this mission. They got themselves into their vehicles and drove off, with only one task in their minds. Bringing Glenn, Noah, Gwen and Maggie back to the prison, alive and safe.

* * *

Andrea and Courtney exchanged a look with each other as the Governor led them to one room. They were asked by the leader of the Woodbury to come with them because he wanted to show them something along with Milton. They could hear loud music coming from the room as he opened the doors and all three of them walked inside, to be greeted by the sight of Milton taking care of an eldery man, who was laying on the hospital bed.

Philip walked past them and approached the old man, "Hey. Mr Coleman? These two are Andrea and Courtney. Milton's gonna bring you up to speed." He turned to look at Milton, "See you at dinner. Thank you for this. You're doing us a great service."

He stepped away from the bed on which Mr. Coleman was laying on and walked out of them room as Andrea and Courtney slowly approached Milton, the latter asking him, "What are we going to do here?"

Milton turned look at them, "Can one of you queue up the song on the record?"

"Sure." Andrea nodded her head and did as she was told to, beginning to walk towards the record player.

"On my mark." Milton said as Andrea stopped in front of the record player and turned it of. He started ringing a singing bowl and instructed Andrea to turn the record player on again, and she listened to him, turning the music back on again, "My name is Milton Mamet. Please raise your right hand off the bed if you recognise any of the following statements to be true. Your name is Michael Coleman."

Mr. Coleman slowly raised his hand as Milton started writing something down in his notebook as Andrea approached Courtney, both of them watching this in confusion.

Milton continued as he started pulling out pictures of some people and showing them to the eldery man, "You're married to Betty Coleman. Your children were Michael Jr and Emily."

The eldery man once again raised his hand as Milton nodded his head, "Very good."

* * *

Glenn, Gwen and Noah were placed next to each other as they attempted to get free from the tape which was keeping them stuck to the chairs as Merle and Jose entered the room once again, bringing a walker with them

Merle held the walker in front of them as he declared, "Alrighty! I want you to imagine how I felt fighting my way off that roof. One hand losing blood, walkers chomping down at me, every step at the way."

"Last chance- where's your group?!" Jose asked them, but once again receive no answer, causing him to look at Merle "Alright. Suit yourself. You know what to do, amigo."

Merle started backing away from them along with Jose before letting go off the walker which instantly started heading towards their prisoners, "Go!"

They closed the doors as the walker made it's way towards the person who was the closest to him who unfortunely happened to be Noah. The bookworm knew he had to think fast if he wanted to survive this day and did the first thing that appeared in his mind. He kicked the walker, sending it away from him for a second, and unfortunely knocking himself down on the floor in the process.

He slowly got himself on his feet, his hands still tied up into a chair and glanced at Glenn and Gwen, "You better get free from it because I don't know for how long I'll be able to

Glenn and Gwen nodded their heads as returned to their attempts to get themselves free from the chairs as Noah made sure that the undead's attention was right on him. He started knocking various things down on the floor, as the undead got itself back on it's feet and lunged for the bookworm. He used one thing he spotted on the floor to lock himself away from the walker who proceeded to reach it's hands towards him.

It was when Glenn and Gwen came to his aid as they finally freed themselves from their chairs. The goth grabbed the undead by it's shoulder, taking it away from the bookworm before knocking it down on the floor, allowing Glenn to take care of the rest as the asian man made sure that this walker will no longer be a threat to any of them.

* * *

Milton and Courtney were seated next to Mr. Coleman as Andrea stood next to them and the eldery man. Milton turned his gaze away from the dying man and looked at the CIT and the blond haired woman, "After Mr Coleman passes, we'll restrain him. He'll reanimate. I'll ask the questions again, record his responses. I need you to end the subject's reanimated state."

Andrea nodded her head, "Alright."

"I've been trying to determine if memory and human consciousness exists after the subject has transformed but I had no baseline to work off of until now." Milton began to explain what they were doing here to them, "Prostate cancer. We didn't have the resources to treat him so he volunteered to be the test subject. He's been very cooperative. He's a remarkable man."

Courtney titled her head, "You're close?"

"We spend a lot of time together." Milton continued, "The song, the singing bowl, the questions- we've done that a few dozen times. These are queues that will hopefully trigger in his unconscious mind, even after he's died."

Andrea exchanged a look with Courtney, recalling that Hershel used to have similiar thoughts in regards of the undead before Shane opened the barn, but both of them knew that there was no unconscious mind. A certain scientist in the CDC explained everything that they had to know about the walkers to them while ago.

"There is no unconscious mind, Milton." The blond haired woman told him to which Courtney nodded in agreement, "When they turn, they become monsters. Whoever they once were is gone."

Milton looked sceptical about her words, "We'll see."

"You haven't seen this before, have you?" Courtney wanted to know, confusion in her voice was evident, "The transformation? How a human becames one of those things?"

Milton shook his head, "No."

"No one in your family?" Andrea asked him, her mind going back to what happened to her sister Amy.

"I'm an only child. Parents died when I was young." Milton explained.

"Weren't you with anyone when everything went down?" Courtney asked him another question.

"I telecommuted to work. I never really..." Milton was cut off when he heard Mr. Coleman let out one last sigh. He pressed his hand against his wrists, searching for a pulse, finding none. He moved his head a bit closer to the eldery man, finding out that he stopped breathing which meant only one thing. Mr. Coleman was dead. He nodded his head at Andrea and Courtney who started restraining the now dead man to the bed.

* * *

Merle and Jose took a small break from interrogating the Dixon's old friends, and made their way out of the building where they were keeping them. They came over to the Governor who was waiting for them outside, waiting for them to tell him the information they received from their prisoners. He wasn't alone, though. Martinez was waiting along with him.

"So." The leader of the Woodbury began, "They know Andrea and Courtney."

"They do." Jose answered with a nod of his head, "But they don't know she's here."

"But they do know your brothers." Philip stated.

"The asian guy, the other guy, and the goth girl do, but I don't know about the other girl." Merle explained, "I've never seen her before."

"Their people may come for them." The Governor stated.

"Maybe." Merle nodded his head to that, "They all say they went back for me."

"So what? They won't break?" Philip asked them, "Say where his people are?"

"They won't, for now. They are tougher than we excepted." Jose explained, "They even cut that walker down in a moment."

"What about the other the girl?" Philip asked them another question, "What did she say?"

"We were about to interrogate her." Jose replied to which Merle nodded in agreement, "At first we wanted to have a small session with Merle's old friends."

"I'll take care of it." The Governor said, before walking away from Merle and Jose along with Martinez.

* * *

Maggie had no idea for how long she was sitting alone restrained to a chair in the room when she heard someone enter the room. The Governor shut the door behind him and slowly approached the older Greene. He pulled out his knife when he stopped behind her and used it to cut the tape which was holding her hands together.

He stepped away from Maggie and came over to a chair in front of her, before sitting down on it, "We'll take you back to your people, explain this was all just a misunderstanding. You tell us where they are and we'll drive you there."

"I wanna talk to Glenn, Gwen and Noah." Maggie told him, crossing her arms.

"I can't allow that." Philip shook his head, "Your people are dangerous. Handcuffed my man to a roof, forced him to amputate his own hand."

Maggie shook her head and shrugged, "I don't know anything about that."

"You just tell us where they are and we'll bring them here. You'll be safe, I promise." The Governor told her, but got no answer from Maggie who remained silent and just stared at him, "No? Fine. Let's try something else. Stand up, please." When Maggie remained still on her seat, he leaned in a bit, ordering her a bit more intimidatingly, "Stand up."

Maggie noticed the change in his tone and slowly stood up from her seat, as the Governor ordered her, once again, in a blank cold tone, "Take off your shirt."

The older Greene instantly shook her head, "No."

"Take off your shirt or I'll bring Glenn's hand in here." Philip threatened her.

Magge had a horrified look on her and started shaking a bit as she slowly took off her shirt and threw it on the floor, leaving her only in her bra. The Governor nodded his head at her, telling her to continue. She removed her bra and covered her now bare chest. The Governor stood up from his chair and removed his belt as he walked over over. He stroked her hair, making her feel more uncomfortable than she already did, and then slammed her down against the table, stepping behind her

"Are you gonna talk?" He asked her.

"Do whatever you're gonna do and go to hell." Maggie told him in response, breathing heavily in fear.

The Governor backed away from her, as Maggie looked up at him, in the state of relief which was mixed with fear.

* * *

The rescue team of people who went to rescue Glenn, Gwen, Noah and Maggie from the Woodbury stopped their vehicles on the side of the road, and started preparing everything they needed to bring with them.

"They have patrols." Michonne declared, adjusting her katana, "We're better off on foot."

"How far?" Izzy asked her, placing her shotgun over her shoulder, "Night's coming."

"A mile." Michonne answered, "Maybe two."

"We better get going then." Chef said, slouching his new M16 over his shoulder.

They got everything they needed out of their vehicles and started heading through the forest, following Michonne who was walking in front of the group, as she leading them to the Woodbury. Izzy and Chef walked next to the dark skinned woman while Alejandro and Oscar walked in the back of the group, keeping an eye on their surroundings.

Duncan and Daryl walked together as Rick approached them, "I know what you did for me, for my baby while I was working things out. Thank you."

"Don't mention it. We couldn't let your baby die, man." Duncan told him.

Daryl nodded his head to that, "It's what we do."

It was when Alejandro spoke up as he walked behind them, "Amigos, I hear something."

Rick stopped for a second and heard growling which meant only one thing, "Down."

Everyone did as they were told to and went down. They quickly spotted a large group of the undead heading their way. Duncan shook his head at the view in front of him, "Oh, great."

"Everyone use your melee." Chef ordered, pulling his knife, "Don't waste your ammunition on them."

Everyone nodded and pulled out their melee weapons. Oscar slammed his hammer on the head of the approaching walker, knocking down before bringing his weapon down on it a few more times, completely destroying it's head as Izzy slammed the back of her shotgun against one of the undead before reaching her other hand for her hunting knife.

The orange haired girl placed it right in the brain of the walker as Duncan loaded an arrow into his bow and fired it at another walker, while Daryl did the same with his crossbow. Michonne swung her katana and sliced the head off the nearest walker while Alejandro placed his tomahawk right on top of the undead that lunged for him,

The young spanish shook his head, "There's too many of them."

Rick looked around and spotted an old cabin in the distance, "This way. In there. Come on."

They all quickly made their way into the cabin and Michonne who was the last one to come in shut the doors behind them and observed the undead, through the window, waiting for them to pass.

Duncan cringed at the smell inside of the cabin and covered his nose with his free hand, "Holy, shit. Do you guys smell that too?"

"The smell." Daryl cringed as everyone except for Michonne slowly started making their way in the direction of the stench.

"What the hell is that?" Oscar asked.

"I don't think I want to know, amigo." Alejandro said, as he gulped and held his breath, not wanting to feel this stench.

"My guess is on some kind of animal." Chef answered, shining his flashlight in the direction of the stench. They stopped when they spotted a dog which was dead for a while laying on the floor, "It's a dog."

"Guess Lassie went home." Daryl stated.

Izzy scanned her surrondings, trying to spot something else than a dog which was dead for a while. Something that her group could actually use back in the prison. A small grin formed on her lips when she spotted one thing laying on the side of the room. She came over to it and picked it up, eyeing to make sure it wasn't broken or anything like that.

"What's that?" Oscar asked her as he apparently followed her.

"JBL carbine Speargun." Izzy explained, "Zeke has been looking for one for a while now. It will help him to catch fishes for our group. It can be used as a melee weapon too."

Their attention was completely shifted when an unknown male voice cried out, "Who the hell are you?!"

They turned in the direction of the voice to see an old guy with a shotgun, who was clearly not pleased with the fact that they invaded his house. Rick held his hand in front of him, attempting to calm the man down, "We don't mean no harm."

"Get out of my house!" The unknown man ordered, not caring about the fact that the walkers were slamming their hands against the exit from his house.

"Sorry to bother you, sir." Chef tried to calm this man down as well as everyone aimed their weapons at him, "We'll go but we can't right now."

The unknown man shook his head, "Now or I'll call the cops!"

"I am a cop." Rick told him, lowering himself down to place his weapons on the floor, "I need you to lower the gun. Don't do anything rash. Everything is fine. Let's just take this nice and slow, okay?"

The unknown man cocked his shotgun, "Show me your badge!"

Rick was about to answer him but never got the chance to do so as Michonne had enough of this guy making too much noise and impaled him with her katana to shut him down, killing him instantly. His corpse collapsed on the floor as she stared coldly at everyone as Daryl came over to the doors and took a small peek to see more walkers approaching the cabin.

The redneck turned to his group, "Ready when you are."

Oscar shook his head, "You gotta be kidding me."

"He's already dead." Chef pointed out, "Check the back."

Oscar nodded and went over to the back of the house to check it as Rick and Chef lifted the now dead man from the floor as Daryl waited for them to give him a signal. The former prisoner returned a few seconds later, "It's clear."

"On three... one, two, three." RIck counted as Daryl opened the doors, allowing the sheriff deputy and the co-host of Total Drama to thrown the lifeless corpse of the owner of this cabin at the walkers who didn't waste anytime and immediately started feasting upon their new meal, ripping the body into shreds.

Daryl closed the doors as quickly as he opened it and all eight of them quickly made their way out of the cabin through the backdoors, passing by the undead who didn't even notice them as they were busy with their new meal.

* * *

Milton, Courtney and Andrea were still watching over the restrained Mr. Coleman, waiting for him to turn into the undead. The CIT and the blond haired woman still had seconds thoughts about this entire thing.

Courtney spotted that the eldery man started moving his head slowly, which meant only one thing, "It's happening."

Milton noticed it as well as he started ringing the singing bowl like he did, earlier, Andrea went over to the record player and turned the music on Milton spoke up to the zombified man, "My name is Milton Mamet. Please raise your right hand off the bed if you recognise any of the following statements to be true. Your name is Michael Coleman. You're married to Betty Coleman. Your children were Michael Jr and Emily."

Andrea and Courtney sighed, watching what was happening right in front of them, as the zombified Mr. Coleman moved his fingers a bit, which Milton didn't fail to notice, "Did you see that? He responded."

"The fingers moved." Andrea pointed out, shaking her head.

"It could be anything." Courtney added as she shook her head as well.

"He can't raise his hand. It's that angle." Milton stated, "I want to try again without the restraints."

Andrea shook her head, "No."

"It's too risky." Courtney stated.

"We have tethered his conscious." Milton stated in return, raising his voice a bit, "We have to try. I know what happens if the subject comes for us, that's what you're here for."

"As soon as you let go of the restrains, he'll try to kill you." Courtney pointed out.

Milton didn't listen to either of them as he removed Mr. Coleman's restrains who instantly lunged for him as Andrea reacted quickly to that and placed her knife right in the undead's head, taking care of the problem.

"You alright?" Courtney asked him.

Milton sighed, "Think I'd like to record my findings while they're fresh."

* * *

Glenn, Gwen and Noah paced back and forth across the room when they heard someone walking towards it. They raised their new weapons which happened to be chair legs in the air, ready to use it at any moment as the doors to the room where they were keeping them opened and Merle, Jose and Martinez entered it.

The older Dixon shook his head, "Uh uh."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Jose added to which Merle nodded in agreement as he aimed his M4A1 at them.

Martinez aimed his gun at them as well, "Drop it."

The Governor was the next one to enter the room and terrified Maggie who still was completely topless and her arms were the only thing covering her breasts was with him, causing Glenn, Noah and Gwen to drop their weapons on the floor. He pulled out his pistol, "We're through with games. Now one of you is gonna give up your camp."

He let go off Maggie's shoulder and came a bit closer to Glenn, aiming his pistol at the asian man as Jose aimed his M4A1 at Noah and Martinez aimed his gun at Gwen. They all cocked their weapons, ready to fire them at any moment.

"...The prison." Maggie revealed the location of their camp to them, not wanting them to harm her boyfriend and her friends more than they already did.

"The one near Noonan?" Jose asked her as Maggie quickly nodded her head in confirmation.

"The place is overrun." Martinez pointed out.

"We took it." Maggie explained, now openly crying.

"How many are you?" Philip demanded to know, keeping his pistol aimed at Glenn's face.

"Twenty four." Maggie quickly replied. "Twenty four now."

"Twenty four cleared that whole prison of biters? Huh?" Philip asked as he laughed and lowered his pistol, placing it back in his holster. He walked back to Maggie, and rubbed her shoulder, "Hey, hey, sh. It's alright. It's alright. Sh. It's alright."

He shoved the older Greene towards Glenn who caught her and embraced her. Maggie started crying into his shoulder as Noah and Gwen glared at the Governor, feeling the urge of making sure that he will get the slowest death as possible.

* * *

The Governor, Merle, Jose, Milton and Martinez were gathered in the Governor's house, discussing about they situation that they have right now.

Philip paced back and forth across his house, "Ten people."

"That's deep in the red zone. There's no way that's..." Milton tried to say but was interrupted by the Governor.

"So she's lying? Cause if she's lying, it means that a pretty sizeable force is moving in our back yard. What if she's not?" He interrupted him as he turned to look at Merle and Jose, "This group with your brothers at it's core has done something you told me couldn't be done. They did it. Your brothers might be out there right now searching for you two. Blood is blood, right? Makes me wonder where your loyalties lie."

Merle gave him a firm nod, "Here"

"Here as well." Jose nodded his head without hesitation, "You saved my life and for that, I'm always with you."

"You three get a small group and stake out the prison." Philip ordered Jose, Merle and Martinez as he patted Merle's, then Jose's shoulder., "I want to know exactly what we're dealing with."

Martinez nodded his head, "Got it."

They were completely unaware that Rick, Chef, Michonne, Daryl, Duncan, Izzy, Oscar and Alejandro were already at the gates of the Woodbury, watching the guards standing on the walls from the distance, hidden behind an abandoned car, trying to figure out a way how to sneak in without allerting the guards.

They were here...

Now it was time to save their people...


	27. Made to Suffer

A burly black skinned man slammed his hammer on the head of a walker which was heading towards him with the obvious intention of making a meal out of him for itself, before spotting another walker coming his way. It was just a matter of seconds before another collapsed on the ground with a hole in his forehead. He paused for a moment and looked around himself, realizing that more walkers were coming his way.

He turned away from the bodies of the undead that he just killed and pushed himself into run. He ran for several seconds, passing by a lot of trees until he was stopped when a young woman appeared out of nowhere, and blocked him with her shovel, preventing him from going any further.

"Tyreese?" She asked him, moving her shovel away from him.

"You okay?" Tyreese asked her in return.

The woman gave him an assuring nod, "Yeah."

"We gotta keep moving." Tyreese declared, "Where's everybody else?"

"They were just behind me." The woman answered, "Is there a clearing ahead? A place to regroup?"

Tyreese shook his head, "I didn't get very far. There might be a building up ahead. I thought I saw a tower past the trees."

"What kind of tower?" The woman wanted to know.

It was when they could hear someone scream behind them, causing them to turn in it's direction. They quickly made their way to the source of the scream and saw the rest of their group fighting off a group of the undead.

The dark haired young man who was carrying a guitar case over his back let out a small sigh of relief as he had just finished struggling against a walker because the black haired girl with unibrow slammed her hammer against the head of the undead against which he was struggling just a few seconds ago. He offered her a grateful nod of his head and a very small smile to which she just nodded her head at him in return.

The young man who was wearing cowboy-like hat over his head sliced the head of a approaching walker with his machete while a bearded man slammed his baseball bat on the undead's head. The other woman hit the approaching walker with her crowbar young man placed his meat cleaver in the head of another walker, which unfortunely stuck in there.

"This way!" Tyreese called out to them, as they instantly did as they were told to. They started running away from the undead as Tyreese led the group through the forest, killing a walker which happened to be standing in his way.

Unfortunely, everything just became worse for them when a woman with a crowbar who was running in the back of the group was grabbed by the undead who bit her right in her arm. She let out a scream of pain as the bearded man and a young man turned back to look at her.

"Mom!" The young man cried out in horror as his mother was just bit by the undead as the bearded man, his father, came in his wife's aid and took care of the undead that bit her, before wrapping his arm around her.

Tyreese and the rest of the group stopped running and turned around to see what had just happened. They quickly went over to help them, taking out the undead that happened to be standing nearby to give the family enough time to get the bitten woman out of here without anyone else from their group getting bitten by one of those things, before starting to make their way to the place that Tyreese found, once again.

It didn't took them that long to get there. They came out on the bushes and spotted a building standing ahead of them, with a brick wall surrounding it. Fortunely for them, there was already a hole in the wall.

"Is this the place, dude?" The hat wearing young man asked him, pointing his machete at the place in front of them.

"Yeah!" Tyreese confirmed with a nod of his head as started running towards the hole in the wall, with the walkers starting to walk out of the rest, following them into the building, "This way. Let's go."

* * *

Maggie, Glenn, Gwen and Noah were sitting agains the wall in the room where Jose and Merle interrogated the latter three for the past few hours. They were silent, not saying anything to each other for some time. The only sound that was coming from this room was Maggie crying.

"Maggie." Glenn broke this silence, as he asked the older Greene, "Did he..."

"No." Maggie quickly cut him off, "He barely touched me."

"Are you sure?" Gwen asked Maggie, "Maggie. You don't..."

"I promise I am telling the truth." Maggie cut the goth of as well as insisted that she wasn't trying to hide anything from them, "All this time, running from walkers, you forget what people do, have always done. Look at what they did to Glenn and Noah and you."

"I still got off easy compared to them." Gwen sighed, as she shifted her attention between Glenn's heavily beaten face and Noah's heavily beaten face. She received some damage from Jose and Merle during the interrogations, but it was nothing compared to what they did to the asian man and the bookworm. She was suprised tht they could still walk.

"Doesn't matter what he did to us." Glenn whispered to Maggie, as they embraced each other in a tearful hug. They released each other from the hug when they heard Noah rising up back on his feet, "What are you doing?"

"I'm getting out of here." Noah explained, coming over to the walker that they killed earlier as the idea what to do with it appeared in his mind. He grabbed it's right arm and started pulling it away from it's body. He wasn't the strongest person in his group, and it took him a while to do it, but he eventually managed to rip the arm off the walker's body as Glenn, Maggie and Gwen stood up and came over to him.

He frowned in disgust as he placed the lower part of the arm on the floor and brought his boot down on it a few times, breaking it and, causing the bone to stick out of the upper part. He held his breath as he started taking the bone out of the arm. He pulled the bone out of the arm and broke in two pieces, before looking at the members from his group, "One of you, take care of the other hand. Each one of us is going to need one if we want to get out of here."

* * *

The rescue team remained hidden behind an abandoned car for a while now as they continued to observe the gates of Woodbury and the guards standing on the wall, waiting for the perfect opportunity to enter this community and break Glenn, Noah, Maggie and Gwen out.

Chef shook his head and sighed, "We're not going to get in and out without anyone noticing us."

"Yeah. Ain't no way we're gonna check in all them buildings." Daryl nodded in agreement, "Not with all them guards there."

Michonne glared at the guards standing on the wall before stepping away from Rick's group, which they didn't fail to notice. Oscar was the first one to voice his thoughts, "Where are you going?"

"Hey!" Rick quietly called out after Michonne but she didn't respond to him and Oscar and disappeared from their sight.

"I'll go after her." Alejandro volunteered to go after Michonne as he turned in the direction in which she went, "Make sure she is not trying to do anything."

"Watch out for yourself." Rick told Alejandro who nodded his head in understanding before heading out after Michonne. The sheriff deputy looked around his group and declared, "All right, we need to downsize."

Everyone nodded and started doing exactly what Rick told them to do but stopped when the branches snapped behind them, which meant only one thing. Everyone quickly turned to this person with their guns drawn and saw Michonne and Alejandro. The dark skinned woman motioned for them to follow her before disappearing from their view once again.

"Don't worry." Alejandro confirmed that it was safe to go, "She found another way in. We can get in there without allerting the guards in the process."

Although they looked a bit hesitant, even with Alejandro's confirmation, they followed Michonne to the loose part of the wall where they could sneak through. They quickly made their way to the other side of the fence, and started carefully to sneak their way to the place where Michonne thought the Governor could be keeping Noah, Gwen, Glenn and Maggie, without allerting any guards.

"This is where you were held?" Rick asked Michonne as they entered a storage room.

"I was questioned." Michonne corrected him.

"Any idea where else they could be?" Chef asked as they explored the entire building and saw that there was no living soul in there.

Duncan made his way to the front of the building and moved the curtains aside to see a few people walking by. He shook his head as the entire view in front of him looked like the time before the world went to shit, "Didn't you said that there was a curfew?"

"The street is packed during the day." Michonne explained, "Those are stragglers."

"We can risk anyone finding us in here." Rick declared, "We gotta move."

Izzy looked at Michonne, "Where else they could put our friends?"

"They could be in his apartment." Michonne answered.

"Where is it?" Izzy asked her another question.

"Not too far from here." Michonne replied.

"Yeah?" Daryl asked her, "What if they ain't there?"

"Then we'll look somewhere else." Michonne pointed out.

"You said you could help us." Rick reminded her.

"I'm doing what I can." Michonne told him.

"Then where in the hell are they?" Oscar wanted to know.

"Time is not exactly on our side, senorita." Alejandro added.

"Let's leave this building" Duncan said, coming away from the window to join his group, "We're wasting our time in here. We can..."

He stopped walking and turned his attention to the front exit from the storage room and the rest of the group did the same as they heard someone knocking on the doors. They quickly backed away and went to the closest hiding places they could find as a man with a hat and vest entered the storage room.

"I know you're in here." The man said, beginning to walk through the storage room, "I saw you moving from outside. You're not supposed to be in here and you know it."

Izzy who was hiding under a table slowly crawled her way out of it, not wanting to allert this man and got herself back on her feet, pulling out her hunting knife. The man was about to enter the side of the building where most of the group was hiding but she stopped him from doing so. She pressed him against the wall, pressing her knife against his throat as the rest of the group joined her.

"We will not harm you if you'll do what we want you to do." She told him, "Understand?"

The man quickly nodded his head. It was so quick that he was suprised he didn't broke his neck, "Yes, yes."

"Get on your knees." Rick ordered as the man obeyed and got himself on his knees. The sheriff deputy looked at Daryl who stood behind this man, "Hands behind your back. Zip tie him."

Daryl started tying the man's hands together as Alejandro asked him, "Where are our people?"

"I don't know." The man shook his head, sounding confused about it.

"I don't think you heard him right." Rick said, "You are holding some of our people. Where are they?"

The man shook his head, once again, looking genuinely confused about it, "I don't know."

"Rick. We're wasting our time with him. He won't tell us." Chef said as he didn't fail to notice this man's expression, "I don't think he even knows that they took our people in here. We should knock him."

The sheriff deputy sighed as he put a gag in the man's mouth, which was followed by Duncan slamming his Colt Model 933 on the back of the man's head, knocking him out. The man's unconsciouss body collapsed on the floor as Daryl and Duncan immediately started dragging it across the floor, intending to hide it somewhere.

"Good work on seizing him, soldier." Chef said to Izzy who picked up her shotgun from the floor under the table.

Izzy gave him a small smile, recalling the one time when she was sneaking on Chef during a hide and seek challenge, "It was easy sneaking up on him. At least this time I didn't had to fight an ex military."

Chef gave her a small grin and short chuckle, knowing to what she was referring to.

* * *

Noah, Gwen, Glenn and Maggie exchanged a look with each other and got themselves ready to attack when they heard someone approach the doors to the room where they were keeping them, clenching the bones which they got from the walkers arms tightly. They knew that their chance of getting out of this place was very small, but they had to try.

The doors finally shut open, revealing Merle, Jose, and two unknown men that they never seen before. Gwen and Maggie quickly charged at the two unknown men, intending to take care of them and take their guns as Noah and Glenn charged at Merle and Jose to give them enough time. Maggie slammed the man against the wall, and stabbed him right in his throat with her weapon.

The man gasped for a breath as blood started to pour out of his neck as Gwen slammed the other man to the floor, and pressed her boot against his chest, making sure that he was going to stay down, only a second before bringing her weapon down on his neck, killing him. Glenn and Noah fought together against Merle and Jose, but unfortunely they were easily overpowered by their opponents who were much stronger than them.

The man that was bleeding out from the wound he had substained from Maggie slowly slid against the wall as he pulled the trigger of his Uzi. His gun fired and everyone in the room were forced to go down as the bullets hit nothing but the wall, alllerting the people of Woodbury that something was happening in their community.

Rick, Chef, Duncan, Daryl, Alejandro, Izzy, Oscar and Michonne heard it too. Alejandro slightly opened the doors of the storage room and took a quick peek to see the normal residents of Woodbury running away in panic while the guards started making their way in the direction of the shoots. He turned to look at the rest of the rescue team and nodded his head, telling them that it was safe for them to go without getting spotted. They all moved into the streets, starting to make their way to the building from which the shoots came from.

Gwen quickly got herself back on her feet as the Uzi stopped firing and picked up a TEC-9 from the man that she just killed and aimed it at Merle and Jose as Maggie did the same with the Uzi, but unfortunely Merle was already holding Glenn down and had his knife pressed against his throat, while Jose had his arm wrapped around Noah, holding him a hostage.

"Let them go!" Maggie shakily demanded, aiming the Uzi at them.

"Don't even think about it!" Gwen shouted right after, aiming the TEC-9 at them.

Merle and Jose exchanged a look with each other and grinned. They let go off Glenn and Noah, with the older Dixon saying, "Okay."

The goth and the older Greene quickly got their answer why Merle and Jose instantly obeyed to their demands as Martinez, Shumpert, and two other Woodbury guards appeared right behind them, with their guns aimed right at them. Gwen and Maggie knew that opening fire would instantly get all of them killed, so they lowered their guns.

"I'll take it if you don't mind." Jose said as he took Maggie's Uzi and Gwen's TEC-9 from them. He handed the Uzi to Merle and kept the TEC-9 to himself. He aimed it down at Noah and Glenn, "Now get up, both of you. We don't have all night."

* * *

They were completely unaware that Rick and his team already made their way to this building and were actually very close to rescuing their people as they quietly made their way through the hallway next to this room. They stopped when they reached the end of the hallway and saw some unknown man coming into the room next to them.

They could hear someone talking to someone, presumably to Glenn, Maggie, Gwen and Noah, and Rick, Chef, Daryl, Alejandro, Duncan and Izzy couldn't help but feel like they heard this voice before, but it wasn't on their minds right now. Saving their people is what mattered to them.

Gwen, Noah, Glenn and Maggie were on their knees, with the latter two holding their hands as Merle stood in front of them, "...Glad we could catch up."

Glenn looked at his girlfriend, "Just keep looking at me."

"I love you." Maggie told him, openly crying only a second before Martinez placed a bag over her head.

The last thing that Gwen saw before Shumpert placed a bag over her head was Noah's expression. She couldn't remember the last time when she saw the bookworm this terrified and she couldn't blame him for that. She wasn't that scared even when she thought that she was stuck on an abandoned island with Duncan, Heather and Owen.

The Governor's men forced them back on their feet and started leading them out of the room, but it was only seconds before the people who came here to rescue Gwen, Glenn, Maggie and Noah threw a flashbang grenade and a smoke grenade. The grenades exploded the moment they touched the floor, blinding Merle, Jose, Martinez, Shumpert and the rest, causin them to barely able to see anything.

The smoke started to engulf the entire place as Rick and his team came out of their cover to get their people. Rick grabbed Glenn, Izzy grabbed Maggie, Duncan grabbed Gwen and Chef grabbed Noah. They began taking their people away from the Governor's soldiers who started to fire their weapons at them, but it turned out to be completely pointless, and their bullets hit only the wall as Rick's group was gone as soon as it came.

* * *

Andrea and Courtney, just like the rest of Woodbury, were allerted by the shoots which came from one of the building and they went out to check it out. They spotted the Governor walking along the streets, and they decided to walk over to the leader of Woodbury, wanting to talk with him about what was going on right now.

"Shots came from up there." Andrea told him, as she approached him with Courtney, "I'm gonna check it out."

"No, I'll handle it. Sometimes biters get in through the side fence." Philip told them, "There's no need for anyone to panic."

"I don't know about that if those were walkers." Courtney stated, "It was too many shoots."

"Someone help!" Haley's scream echoed across the street as the Governor, Courtney and Andrea turned in the direction of it to see Haley taking a man out of the storage room. They quickly pushed themselves into run and made their way over to them.

"What happened?" Philip asked them as he stopped in front of them with the lawyer and the CIT.

"Guys came through with guns." The man responded, holding his hand against his hand as the people from this community started to gather around him.

"How many?" The Governor asked him another question.

The man was silent for a few seconds, trying to remember how many people he saw, before answering, "Eight or nine guys. I've never seen them before."

"What should we do?" Haley asked the Governor, but didn't got the answer from him as he turned around to see the people that gathered around them.

"Hey, hey, hey. Everyone, please just go home, lock your doors, huh?" He told them, trying to sound as stoic and calm as he could right now, "We need to keep everyone safe, okay? So just get inside, keep your lights off." The people seemed to understand what he had just said to them and started heading out to their homes as the guards approached the Governor and leaned in a bit closer to them, and whispered, not wanting regular folk to hear it, "We're under attack. You fan out and you find these people. Don't take any chances, try and take prisoners. You shoot to kill."

The guards nodded, understanding their orders, before heading away from the Governor to search for the people that attacked their community.

* * *

Rick and his group were making their way through the streets. Rick and Maggie had their arms wrapped around Glenn, helping him to move forward as Chef and Alejandro were doing the same to Noah, because the two of them would be left far behind without their help. They knew they had to be careful because the shoots obviously allerted everyone in this community.

"Inside." Daryl who walked ahead of the group along with Duncan declared as the juvie opened the entrance to one of the buildings, "Quick."

They entered the building and started to search through it, looking if there was anyone inside and looking for any other entrance as most of the group entered it right after, with Noah and Glenn falling on the floor the moment they entered it. The only one who didn't enter the building was Michonne who closed the doors. There was something else she had to take care of.

"How did you find us?" Gwen asked them as Maggie knelt down in front of Glenn and Izzy knelt down in front of Noah.

"Some random chick appeared at the gates of the prison and told us everything we needed to know about this place." Duncan explained, leaning against the wall as he had just finished checking this building with Daryl.

"Speaking of her." Izzy said as she looked around and saw that Michonne was gone, "Where is she?"

"Maybe they spotted her." Chef theorised, looking at the streets through the curtains as he turned back to look at Rick, "Should I take Oscar or Alejandro and go out to look for her?"

"No. We gotta get them out of here. She's on her own." Rick shook his head as he looked down at Glenn and Noah, "How bad are you hurt?"

Glenn gave him a nod of his head, pressing his hands against his ribcage, "I'll be all right."

"I feel as good as I look, but I'll make it." Noah answered as he looked at Izzy who was checking his wounds, "Izzy, I never thought that I'll be this relieved to see your crazy face."

Izzy gave him a bittersweet laugh, "Good to see you too, bookworm."

"Daryl." Glenn called out for the younger Dixon, "It was Merle."

Everyone paused what they were doing and looked at Glenn, clearly suprised by this revelation but Daryl was obviously the one shocked the most, "You saw him?"

Glenn nodded in confirmation, "Face to face."

"Bastard hasn't changed a bit." Noah added, "He was gonna execute us."

"We were extremely lucky that you showed up to save us." Gwen added her part as well.

"Who's Merle?" Oscar asked, being the only one in the room who didn't know about the older Dixon.

"Daryl's brother." Alejandro explained, "A pendejo that used to be in our group back when it all started."

"He wasn't the only one." Glenn revealed as he turned his gaze towards Alejandro, "Alejandro, your brother Jose is here too. He tried to kill us, just like Merle."

"...What?" Alejandro said after a few seconds of not saying anything, completely shocked by this information. He shook his head, clearly displeased by this information. At the same time a quick rose in his mind. If Jose was here, then what about Carlos?, "Just when I thought that things can't get any worse! Don't tell me that he is this governor."

"No. He isn't. He is somebody else." Maggie shook her head, "He and Merle are his soldiers or something like that."

"Does Merle know I'm still with you?" Daryl wanted to know.

Noah looked at Daryl as if he had just asked the most obvious question in the history, "What do you think?"

"Guys, I'm sorry. We told him where the prison was." Glenn told his group, "We couldn't hold out."

Rick gave him a pat on his shoulder, "Don't. No need to apologize."

"You did what you had to do." Chef nodded in agreement, "We need to move out. They must be searching through every building right now. We can't risk getting found here."

"Can you walk?" Izzy asked Noah and Glenn, shifting her attention between them, earning nods from both of them. She and Gwen brought Noah back to his feet while Maggie and Duncan did the same with Glenn.

"Hey, if Merle's around, I need to see him." Daryl exclaimed.

Duncan removed his hand from Glenn's shoulder and looked at him, "This isn't the time, man."

Daryl shook his head, "He's my brother. I ain't..."

"Look at what he did!" Rick pointed out as he pointed at Glenn and Noah, "Look, we gotta get out of here now."

"Maybe I can talk to him." Daryl insisted, "Maybe I can work something out."

Chef placed his hand on Daryl's shoulder, "We can't let out there, soldier, you're not thinking straight."

"Glenn and Noah can barely walk." Rick added, looking straight into Daryl's eyes, as he attempted to convice him to not go after Merle, "How are we gonna make it out if we get overrun by walkers and this governor catches up to us? I need you. We all need you. Are you with us?"

Daryl was unresponsive for a few seconds, but eventually nodded his head, "...Yeah."

Rick nodded his head at the younger Dixon before turning around to look at Alejandro, "What about you, Alejandro?"

"Maybe I would have second thoughts if it was Carlos, but it is Jose. You all know that I hate him. You were better to me than he was for my entire life." Alejandro answered before giving them a nod of confirmation, "I'm with you."

* * *

The Governor reloaded his pistol as he currently stood inside of Milton's lab along with Andrea, Courtney, Milton, Martinez, Shumpert, Haley and two other guards when he heard someone enter this place.

He looked up from his pistol and saw Merle and Jose, "Any sign of them?"

"Signs of what?" Milton asked as Merle and Jose stopped in front of the Governor, "What exactly is happening out there?"

Jose looked at Milton, "Some hijo de putas want what we have."

"Then what are we doing waiting around here?" Andrea asked, looking around everyone.

"Damn straight." Merle nodded in agreement, "Let's take these sons of bitches out."

"How do we know that the perimeter was breached?" Milton asked, wanting to be sure, "Did anyone actually see them?"

"They killed Warren and Marco, Milton." Jose answered with a sigh, knowing that this answer will be enough for his friend to understand.

Milton gasped, having the same reaction as Jose excepted him to have, "Killed?"

"Took us by suprise." Jose explained, "Stuck a stake through their necks."

"We need patrols now. Can't take chances with these terrorists." Philip's reaction was immediate. He looked down at Andrea and Courtney, "You two make sure to check on our people, make sure they're safe, make sure they're not panicking."

"We'll make sure to be careful." Courtney nodded her head as Andrea nodded her head as well, though she looked a bit hesitant, "If we'll find them in on the houses, we'll let all of you now."

"Thank you." Philip nodded his head at them before turning to look at the rest, "The rest of you split up. Jose will lead the search."

* * *

The Governor had no idea that someone had just sneaked into his apartament. Michonne slowly opened the doors and took a quick peek to see if someone was already inside. The entire place seemed to be empty and it was enough for her to enter it.

She walked into the apartament, locking the doors behind her and paced back and forth across the apartament for a few seconds before unsheathing her katana. She grabbed a nearby chair and sat down on it, laying her katana on her knees. She breathed in as she stared ahead at the exit from this place, waiting for someone to open it.

Her trap was ready.

Now she just had to wait for this bastard to enter his home...

* * *

The group was standing in front of the exit from the building where they took their shelter after they rescued Glenn, Gwen, Maggie and Noah, making sure that they had everything prepared to move out into the streets.

Rick turned around and looked at his group as he stood right in front of the exit with Chef who made sure that the magazine of his M16 was full, "Ready?"

"Do you really need to ask?" Noah asked him in return, wanting to get out of this town as fast as possible as Gwen had her arm wrapped aroudn him, helping him stand.

"Stay tight. On three." Rick told his group, as Daryl and Izzy pulled out two smoke grenades from the bag, "One, two, three."

He opened the doors the younger Dixon immediately reacted to that. He threw the smoke grenade and it landed a few meters ahead of them on the street, slowly beginning to engulf the entire area in smoke which was followed by Izzy throwing another smoke grenade, which began to engulf the area in smoke as soon as it landed on the ground.

"Let's move out!" Chef shouted ass the smoke continued to engulf the entire streets, the group moved out of their shelter, intending not to stop until they'll find themselves on the other side of the fence.

Rick and Chef took the lead of the group as they entered the streets, instantly spotting two men standing on top of the school buses, possibly on guard. They aimed their guns at the two men they spotted and opened fire at them as everyone else followed them right after. Duncan, Izzy, Daryl, Oscar and Alejandro made sure to cover Maggie and Gwen who were helping Noah and Glenn get to the walls of Woodbury as fast as it was possible, protecting them from any sort of danger from the Governor's soldiers.

The co-host of Total Drama glared up at the guard that he just opened fire at as this completely unknown person didn't even had a chance to react as some of the bullets fired at him by Chef Hatchet hit him all across his body. The one that hit him right in his heart was the last thing he ever felt as he dropped his machine gun which landed on the grround and closed his eyes, for the last time.

The lifeless body of a man that Chef just killed fell off the bus, landing on the ground right next to his gun as Rick didn't waste anytime and got rid of the other man as well, causing him to join his dead buddy on the ground. The group had reached the walls as Martinez and Shumpert crouched down behind a cover and started firing their guns at the people invading their home.

Daryl turned to face the two men and fired his AK at them, "Behind you!"

"Take cover!" Izzy shouted as she returned the fire along with Duncan and Chef as Jose, Merle, Haley, and few other Woodbury guards came in Martinez's and Shumpert's aid.

Andrea and Courtney heard the noises of a gunfight when they were coming out of one of the buildinds and quickly hurried over to the Governor's men, intending to assist them in fighting off the invaders. They stopped next to a building pulled out their pistols before returning the fire, completely unaware that these people were their old group. Andrea reloaded her pistol and proceeded to fire it Courtney stopped firing hers and narrowed her eyes when she saw Oscar making his way to his group.

"You two alright?" The Governor asked, approaching them from behind with his pistol in ready.

"I saw one of them." Courtney declared as Andrea and Philip looked at her, "A black skinned man. He was wearing a blue jumpsuit."

"Escaped convicts." Philip stated in realization as he started to move away from the battlefield, causing Courtney and Andrea to turn back to stare at him, "We gotta get off the street. We're not soldiers, we're survivors."

Rick started reloading his M4A1 as he took a temporary shelter in an alleyway between the two buildings along with Maggie, Gwen, Alejandro, Oscar, Glenn and Noah. He turned to look at Chef, Daryl, Duncan and Izzy who were firing back at the Governor's men, "How many?"

"I can't see!" Duncan shouted in response, before noticing that the smoke was starting to disappear, causing him to pull out another smoke grenade before throwing it away. It exploded the moment it touched the ground.

"I can't really tell because of the smoke!" Chef added as the smoke once again began to overcome the entire area, "But I think there are eight or ten of them at the most!"

"Don't matter." Daryl stated as he stopped returning fire for a second to reloaded his AK, "There's gonna be more of them. We need to move."

"Do we have any grenades left?" Rick asked them another question.

Duncan's response was immediate, "Not many but we should make it!"

"You guys go ahead." Daryl declared, starting to fire back again, "I'm gonna lay down some cover fire."

"What?" Izzy asked him, not liking his idea.

Duncan shook his head, "No way we're leaving you!"

"We're not leaving a fellow soldier behind!" Chef added, to which Izzy and Duncan nodded in agreement.

"Alejandro!" Rick said, causing Alejandro to look at him, "You and Oscar make sure they will get to the other side of the wall! We will cover you!"

Oscar nodded his head, understanding the orders he received from the leader of the group, "Got it."

"Will do." Alejandro nodded his head as well, "Now?"

"Yeah! Go!" Rick gave him a short nod of his head in response as he ran out of his cover and ran over to Chef, Daryl, Duncan, and Izzy, intending to assist them in providing some cover fire for the rest of the group.

He pulled the trigger of his M4A1 and started firing his gun at the Governor's men as Maggie, Gwen, Noah, Glenn, Alejandro and Oscar did exactly what they were told to do and ran to the wall. The former prisoner exchanged a look with Alejandro who placed his machine rifle on the front of the school bus that was butted against the fence.

The former prisoner turned away from Alejandro and began firing his shotgun at his opponents, even though he could barely see them because of the smoke, with the intention of giving Alejandro enough time to climb into the front of the school bus as Maggie and Gwen joined him and began firing the pistols they received from the group while Noah and Glenn remained in the back, as they clearly were in no shape to fight.

The spanish young man didn't waste anytime and quickly climed his way to the front of the vehicle. He immediately reached his hand out to Noah who grabbed it and with the help of the spanish young man, the injured bookworm made his way to the other side of the fence, away from the gunfire, safe.

"C'mon, amigo!" He shouted to Glenn as he reached his hand out to the asian man who grabbed it as fast as he could, allowing Alejandro to help him get to the other side of the fence. He looked down at Gwen and Maggie who looked up at him and reached his hand down to them, "Now you two!"

Gwen looked at Maggie who nodded her head, only a second before the goth grabbed Alejandro's hand as Duncan narrowed his eyes when he spotted one of his opponents through the wall of smoke. He aimed his weapon, making sure to not waste any bullets and pulled the trigger. He could hear his target letting out one last short scream of pain, before his lifeless body collapsed on the ground, dead.

Rick looked over his shoulder for a second to see Alejandro standing on top of the school school, readying himself to jump to safety. He and Oscar already gotten Noah, Gwen, Maggie and Glenn to the other side of the fence and they knew that now it was their time to flee. Alejandro jumped to the other since of the fence, as Oscar started climbing up the bus right after.

The sheriff deputy looked away from them and was about to return to firing at the people who kidnapped his people, but it never happened because it was when he saw a man with a shotgun emerge from the smoke. He froze in complete shock when he saw that it was his best friend Shane, someone he had to kill back on the farm. The Shane-looking man pumped a round into his chamber and aimed his gun at Oscar who was currently making his way to the other side of the fence. He never had a chance to fire his gun, though.

A shoot rang through Rick's ears as he turned to the left to see an empty shell falling out of Izzy's shotgun. The man fell on his knees, dropping his shotgun on the ground as Izzy fired her shotgun, once again, taking care of this man for good as Oscar safely made his way to the other side of the wall where Glenn, Maggie, Gwen, Noah and Alejandro were already waiting for the members of their group.

It was the last thing that Izzy did before turning back around to face the wall. She stood up from the crouching position and ran over to the wall. She hopped into the front of the school bus and started to make her way to the other side of the wall, leaving only Rick, Daryl, Chef and Duncan on the streets of Woodbury.

Chef stood up from his crouching position and started to back down over to the fence, firing his M16 at his opponents every second as he did so as Rick did the same, but unlike him, the sheriff deputy started making his way to the man that Izzy killed a few seconds ago.

"Hurry up, soldiers!" He yelled out to Rick, Duncan and Daryl, just seconds before he jumped to safety, joining the rest of the group on the other side.

Rick stopped in front of the lifeless corpse of a man that looked like Shane just a few seconds ago and looked down at him, only to find out that it wasn't his best friend and that he was just seeing things. It was just an unknown man with a bit of facial hair that he has never seen before. The man's lifeless eyes stared up at him, not a single breath living his lungs.

"What are you doing, man?" Duncan asked, as he grabbed Rick by his shoulder, causing the sheriff deputy to look at him. The juvie was clearly confused by the fact that Rick would just leave his cover just to stare at the dead man, "You want to get yourself killed?"

Rick shook his head in response to Duncan's words. They turned away from the dead man and ran over to the school bus. Duncan patted Rick on his shoulder, telling him to go first as Rick didn't waste anytime and made his way to the other side of the fence. Duncan saw that and knew that it was his time go. He slouched his weapon over his shoulder and began climbing up the school bus.

"Don't do anything stupid, redneck!" Duncan shouted as he climbed his way to the top of the school bus, stopping for a second to look down at Daryl who continued to fire his AK at the Governor's men, "C'mon! Let's get outta of here!'

"Don't worry about me, juvie! I will catch up to you!" Daryl shouted to Duncan in response, who sighed and despise having seconds thoughts about doing this, jumped to safety, joining the rest of the group on the other side of the fence, leaving Daryl to fight off his opponents all by himself.

* * *

It was a quiet night in the prison. Everyone were minding their own business. Hershel, Beth, Carl, Bridgette and DJ were watching over baby Judith, Cody was reading one of Noah's books, not really having anything else to do right now, Chris, Ezekiel and Heather were filling the empty magazines with bullets, Harold and Leshawna were having a conversation with each other, and so did with Axel and Carol.

Chris had just finished filling the magazine when a scream of a woman rang through his ears, "Did you heard that?"

"What was that?" Beth asked, a bit nervous as everyone stopped what they were doing.

Cody placed Noah's book aside, "It sounds like it came from the hallways next to us."

"It wouldn't be too suprising." Harold stated, "Some walkers got into the hallways from the outside, people could do the same thing."

"I'll go to check it out." Chris said as he moved towards the exit from the cellblocks, slouching his rifle over his shoulder and pulled his Glock out of it's holster, "Anyone wants to join?"

"I'll go." Heather volunteered, coming over to Chris' side with her pistol and knife in reayd.

Ezekiel did the same thing, "Me too, eh."

Chris nodded his head at them. Three people was enough to go check it. He turned to look at Harold, "Harold. You stay here and make sure that the gate is locked. Don't let anyone in unless it's us."

The nerd nodded his head in understanding, "Alright."

"What about me?" Carl asked, coming down the stairs with his slenced pistol in ready, "Can I go too?"

Chris was unresposinve for a few seconds, before nodding his head, looking like he was already having second thoughts about his decision, "Just stay close to us, Carl."

"I will." Carl gave him an assuring nod.

Chris, Carl, Ezekiel and Heather headed out of the cellblock into the hallways, searching for whoever let out this scream as Harold locked the gate right after they left, not intending to open it until they'll get back. He turned to look at DJ and threw they keys to him. The brickhouse caught it without any problem as Harold headed into his cell, only to walk out of it a few seconds later with his shotgun in ready, wanting to be prepared for anything that may happen.

Carl walked in front of the group, holding his flashlight out, shining through the dark hallways as Chris, Ezekiel and Heather walked right behind him, with their guns in ready and following the screams of a woman which were becoming louder and louder with each step they took. The screams became even louder when they stopped in front of the entrance to the boiler room.

This must have been the place where this woman was hidding. Carl turned back as Chris, Ezekiel and Heather cocked their pistols, ready to enter this room, but they quickly found themselves to be wrong when a walker came out from the hallway in front of them. Carl took care of it with a simple shot to it's head, only a second before all four of them headed down the hallway from which this walker came from.

When they entered this hallway, they were instantly greeted by the sight of a group fighting off a group of the undead. Chris quickly spotted a woman with w shovel who was struggling against a walker. He instantly reacted to that. The host of Total Drama fired his Glock, and the bullet landed right in the undead's brain, finishing it off for good.

Everyone from this unknown group turned to look at him, Carl, Heather and Ezekiel and Chris, Heather and Ezekiel froze in complete shock when they recognized three people from this unknown group that somehow found a way into the prison.

The hat wearing man who turned out to be no other than a familiar party animal, and a host of the aftermath shows, named Geoff stopped in his tracks as if he had just spotted a ghost as his machete almost fell out of his grasp.

The man with a guitar case over his back turned out to be a familiar musican, a lover of number nine and a member of the Drama Brothers who went by the name of Trent. He shook his head, and blinked a few times, wanting to know if he was just seeing things.

The last person that Chris, Heather and Ezekiel knew was a familiar jockeness named Eva who was known for having trouble with controlling her anger. She stepped on the head of a walker she just brought down to the floor with her boot, but her attention was not on this walker at all. It was on three familiar people that just came to their aid.

Trent let out a deep breath, his eyes wide in shock, "Chris? Heather? Zeke?"

"Are those..." Ezekiel attempted to say.

Heather cut him off as she let out a shocked, "Geoff? Trent? Eva?"

"Sorry to ruin your reunion." Carl said, being the only one from his group who was shocked right now, "But you can catch up later! We have other things to worry about right now!"

"Carl's right." Chris said, his shocked expression fading from his face, "We'll talk once we're save! Let's get out of here!"

They started moving back through the hallway from which they came from as Tyreese, Geoff, Eva, Trent and the woman with a shovel were the first ones to follow them. The young man was quick to follow them as the bearded man wrapped his arm around his bitten wife shoulder and brought her back to her feet, before following the people who may have just saved their lives.

They moved through the hallways, taking out anything that stood in their way. Heather aimed her pistol at the walker which was coming towards them from the path ahead of them and took it out with one shots to the head as Geoff sliced the head of another one with his machete.

It took them about one minute to get out of the hallways. Chris was the first one to come out of the hallways, calling out, "Harold!"

"What?" Harold asked him, as Chris ran over to the gate, "What happened?"

"Open the gate, now." Chris immediately told him, "We need everyone's help."

Harold nodded his head and turned around to look at DJ who nodded his head and ran over to the gate, and opened it with the keys he got from the nerd. Harold, Bridgette, DJ, Cody, Leshawna, Hershel, Beth, Carol and Axel all stepped through the gate, immediately spotting the people that Chris, Heather and Ezekiel found in the hallways.

The surfer's heart almost stopped when she recognized one of the people standing in front of her.

"...Geoff." It took a few seconds for Bridgette's brain to process the information of who had just arrived at the prison. She just stood there as if she had just spotted a ghost for several seconds before pushing herself into run. She embraced Geoff in a bone crushing hug. She felt tears of hapiness forming in her eyes as she held him as if her life depended on it, "You're here..."

"Bridge." Geoff said, his eyes wide in shock as he returned Bridgette's embrace, wrapping his arms around her, feeling how her tears started to soak his shirt.

Beth leaned in a bit to her father, "Is that who I think it is?"

"I'll take that as yes." Hershel smiled as Bridgette and Geoff pressed their lips against each other, enjoying the first kiss they had with each other since this entire thing started.

"Who are they?" Axel asked, confused by what was happening in front of him.

Carol smiled, "Their old friends."

Leshawna and Cody stepped forward, coming over to Trent with smiles on their faces. He shook his head and smiled at them, "I can't believe after all these months."

"You have no idea how good it is to see you again, sugar!" Leshawna said as she hugged Trent who returned her hug.

"Same here, Leshawna." Trent said as he looked over Leshawna's shoulder and looked at Cody, offering him a smile and a nod of his head "Same here."

"Dude." DJ shook his head with a huge smile on his lips as he approached Geoff and Bridgette who released each other from the hug. Geoff moved a bit closer to the brickhouse and the two friends shared a quick hug, "I'm so glad to see you again!"

"Hey, Eva." Eva heard someone call out to her, causing her to turn to look at the person to see Heather, "I know that we may have not liked each other in the past, but it is good to see again."

Eva was taken a back by it, because Heather was actually being nice to her. She gave her a small nod of her head, "...You too."

"No!" A scream came from the other side of the room as everyone saw a bearded man laying his wife down on the floor, "Donna!"

"What happened with her?" Chris asked, coming over to him.

"She was bitten." The bearded man explained, staring right into his dying's wife eyes, "Before we entered this place."

Harold came over to Chris side with his shotgun, "When was it?"

He didn't had to wait long for the answer, "Back when sun was still up."

"Gosh." Harold shook his head, knowing that this woman didn't had much time left. He aimed his shotgun right at her face, "I'm sorry to say this, but someone's gotta."

The bearded man let out a "Whoa" when he saw that Harold was seconds away from shooting his wife in the head. He looked up at the nerd who stood with Chris, "Who are you anyway?"

"Geoff, Trent, Eva. I can already say that you know these guys." The woman with a shovel asked the said three people, "Who are they?"

"Don't worry about them, Sasha." Trent assured her, standing along with Bridgette and DJ. He, Geoff and Eva didn't told Tyreese and his group about their old friends because they were traveling with them for only a week now, "Some of them are our friends. We knew them before all of this started."

"Look, we can help you." Carl said, before pointing at Donna, "But at first, we need to take care of her."

"Let me do it." Tyreese said to Harold who still had his shotgun aimed at Donna's head, "We take care of our own."

"Are you sure?" Harold wanted to be sure to which Tyreese nodded in confirmation. The nerd stopped aiming his shotgun at Donna's head and took one step backwards, "Let me know if you'll change your mind."

Tyreese nodded his head and pulled out his hammer, holding it above Donna's forehead. The bearded man gave his wife one last kiss on her forehead, before placing something over it. He moved over to his son as they embraced each other in a tearful hug as Tyreese brought his hammer down on Donna's forehead, killing her and preventing her from changing into a walker.

* * *

Michonne had no idea for how long she was waiting for the Governor to enter this apartament, but she didn't care about that. She turned her gaze away from the doors to the apartament when she heard a noise which came from the doors next to her. She raised her brow in confusion and stood up from her chair, walking over to the source of this noise.

She held her katana in ready, as she opened the doors with a firm kick. Her eyes snapped open in shock when she saw water tanks which were filled with at least two dozens of walker heads. She stepped into the room, with her widened eyes not leaving the water tanks. Her shocked expresion slowly turned into a frown, as her desire to kill this psychopath became even bigger.

Her attention was brought to the closet on her left as a noise of something moving inside of it rang through her ears. She gripped her katana tightly, ready to kill the thing that she was going to find in there and slowly opened the closet to be greeted by the sight of a young girl who had her entire face covered by a bag.

"Oh, my, God." The dark skinned woman said in shock, as she knelt down and placed her katana aside as the young girl slowly walked over to her, "It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you."

Michonne detached the chain which was holding the girl in the closet and moved her hands upwards to the bag. She removed it from the girl's face, only to find out that this girl was a walker. She jumped back when the zombified girl showed off her teeth to her. The dark skinned woman quickly got herself back on her feet and picked up her katana.

She was about to end this girl's suffering, but she stopped her blade in mid-air when she heard, "No!"

Michonne turned in the direction of the voice to see the Governor aiming his pistol at her. She glared at him and moved backwards a bit, holding the undead girl in front of her, with her blade pressed aganst the zombified's girl neck.

"Don't hurt her. It's me you want." The Governor pleaded Michonne as he placed his pistol on the ground. He raised his hands in the air and started approaching Michonne and his daughter, "There's no need for her to suffer. Please. Don't hurt my little girl."

Michonne glared at the Governor, in disgust that he was actually letting his daughter to be in this way. She placed her katana right in the back of the little's girl head, with the bloody end sticking out of her mouth.

"No!" Philip shouted in despair as Michonne threw his now dead aside. He threw herself at her in complete rage as Michonne unfortunely didn't had time to react to that. The Governor pressed her against the doors of the closet and punched her straight in the face, before Michonne grabbed his arms and leaped forward, throwing herself on the floor along with him.

The Governor got himself on top of her and screamed in rage, beginning to press his hands against Michonne's neck as she grabbed her katana and punched him in right the face with the handle of it. Philip was knocked aside as Michonne used this opportunity to get herself back on her feet. She placed her katana in front of him and pressed it against his neck.

She started to choke the Governor who gasped for a breath and quickly got himself back on his feet. He started to run back and forth across the room, slamming against everything, attempting to free himself from her grasp. It took him a moment to do free himself from her grasp as Michonne punched him in the gut, which unfortunely did nothing to him.

He slammed her against the wall two times before grabbing her head and shoving her towards one of the water tanks. The glass went flying across the room as Michonne's head was slammed against it. She groaned as her head was one very close to the walker head whch was opening and closing it's mouth. She knew she had to think fast.

She did the first thing that came into her mind. She moved backwards, bringing down a few waterbanks down. The waterbanks landed on the floor, and the glass shattered upon the impact as the Governor wrapped his arm around Michonne's neck and held her close to one of the heads laying on the floor. Michonne clenched her teeth as she elbowed the Governor in the face.

He groaned in pain, letting Michonne go from his grasp. She started crawling away from him, trying to reach her katana, but she unfortunely never made it to her weapon asthe Governor attacked her again, holding her against the floor, preventing her from taking her weapon. It was when she spotted a huge piece of glass laying nearby. She grabbed it and attacked the Governor with it, stabbing him right in his eye.

Philip roared in pain, feeling a piece of glass in his eye as Michonne knocked him aside, heading straight for her katana. She grabbed it and got herself back on her feet. She was about to finish the Governor off, but was stopped when a voice cried out, "No!"

She turned to the source of the voice, aiming her blade at the person that just interrupted her to see Andrea and Courtney. Andrea shook her head, "What have you done?"

Michonne didn't respond to her words. She just procceded to stare at her old traveling companions before heading out of the apartament, leaving them along with the Governor.

Andrea knelt down to help Philip as Courtney could feel how her eyes widened in shock when her eyes caught the sight of the water tanks and the walker's heads. She shook her head, her shocked expression not leaving her face, "Uh, Andrea?"

The lawyer looked away from the Governor who started crawling towards his dead daughter. The blond haired woman saw what the CIT was looking at her and snapped open in shock. She and Courtney exchanged a shocked look with each other, before looking down at the Governor who was hugging his daughter, sobbing.

* * *

The Governor was sitting in the Woodbury's hospital as Dr. Stevens patched up his wounded eye. Andrea and Courtney were with them, wanting to talk about the Governor about what they saw in his room. A bandage was covering's Philip's eyes as a bandage was wrapped around his head.

"It doesn't look good." Dr. Stevens stated, "The glass has done a lot of damage."

"I need to get out of here." The Governor said, starting to leave his seat.

Dr. Stevens placed her hand on his shoulder, stopping him, "Not, yet."

"Get out of my way!" The Governor shouted, causing Dr. Stevens to step away from him a bit.

"Can you give us a minute?" Andrea asked to which Dr. Stevens nodded, before heading out of the room, leaving Andrea and Courtney with the Governor, "What the hell was that? Why was she here? Why were you fighting her?"

"She came back to kill me." Philip answered, his tone was cold.

"What about the fish tanks, the heads? And the little girl? Who was she?" Courtney wanted to know as Andrea looked at the CIT, realizing that her friend didn't know that the Governor had a family.

"I made myself look at them. Prepared me for the horrors outside." Philip paused for a second, "...As for the little girl. It was my daughter, Penny..."

"Oh, my God." Milton said as he entered the room. He approached his friend, "I just heard. Are you all right? Your eye, is it..."

He was cut off when another people entered the room. This time it was Jose, Merle and Haley. The spanish young man looked at the Governor in worry, "Philip. Dr. Stevens just told us, what happened?"

"I was attacked." The Governor cut him off as he turned to look at Milton, Jose, Merle and Haley, giving them a good look at his wounded eye.

"By who?" Jose wanted to know.

Philip looked at Andrea and Courtney, "Their friend."

"Her?" Jose asked as he turned to look at Merle and glared at him, knowing that he lied to them, "I thought you said that you killed her?"

" _What_?" Andrea and Courtney thought at the same time as they exchanged shocked looks with each other. Merle was ordered to kill Michonne?!

Merle remained silent for several seconds, knowing that everyone now knew that he lied about Michonne. He looked at the Governor who was glaring at him, "...They made it over the wall. I'll go after them in the morning."

* * *

Rick, Chef, Duncan, Maggie, Glenn, Gwen, Noah, Alejandro, Oscar and Izzy made their way back to their old watching spot behind an abandoned car, waiting for one more person from their group who stayed behind when they were making their way out of Woodbury to join them.

"Get down." Rick said, watching over the guarded walls as everyone knelt down, Glenn and Noah grunting in pain.

"C'mon, redneck." Duncan said, kneeling down behind Rick and Chef who were in the front of the group. "Where are you?"

It was when they heard someone approaching them. They turned to the source of the noise and saw Michonne, rejoining their group. Rick immediately aimed his Python at her as everyone else, except for Glenn and Noah followed his example and aimed their guns at the black skinned woman.

"Care to share with us where were you?" Alejandro asked her, aiming his machine rifle at her.

"Put your hands up." Rick ordered as Michonne slowly rised her hands in the air. The sheriff deputy then looked at Izzy and made a gesture with her head towards Michonne's sword. The orange haired girl nodded her head, understanding her order and unsheathed Michonne's katana, taking it away from the dark skinned woman.

"Where's the guy with the crossbow?" Michonne asked them.

"He is missing." Oscar answered, aiming his shotgun at her.

"We lost contact with him when we made it over the wall." Gwen added, aiming her pistol at the dark skinned woman.

"Did you see him?" Chef wanted to know to which Michonne shook her head.

Rick leaned in towards Michonne, "If anything happens to him..."

"I brought you here to save them." Michonne cut him off, sending a quick glance to Glenn, Noah, Gwen and Maggie, "You'll need help to get them back to the prison or to go back in there for Daryl. Either way, you need me."

* * *

The Governor entered the area, standing in the middle of the field where Merle and Martinez were fighting for the entertaiment for the residents of his community, not that long. Philip looked around himself as the every person living in the Woodbury was gathered about him, dread and confusion in their eyes. Merle, Jose, Shumpert and Martinez stood behind their leader.

"What can I say?" He declared to his people, trying to figure out what to say to them, "Hasn't been a night like this since the walls were completed. And I thought we were past it- past the days when we all sat, huddled, scared in front of the TV during the early days of the outbreak. The fear we all felt then, we felt it again tonight. I failed you. I promised to keep you safe. Hell, look at me. You know, I- I should tell you that we'll be okay, that we're safe, that tomorrow we'll bury our dead and endure, but I- I won't, because I can't. Because I'm afraid. That's right. I'm afraid of terrorists who want what we have. Want to destroy us! And worse... because one of those terrorists... is one of our own..."

He paused and glanced over at Jose, Merle, Shumpert and Martinez. The residents of the Woodbury were muttering with each other, about the traitor that their leader just mentioned. Merle frowned, as he wasn't informed that there was a traitor among them.

"Merle!" The Governor exclaimed, pointing at the older Dixon, "The man I counted on, the man I trusted. He led 'em here. And he let 'em in. It was you. You lied, betrayed us all."

The crowd gasped at the revelation of who was the person that betrayed them. Merle's eyes widened, having no idea if his mind was playing tricks on him. He got his confirmation when Shumpert aimed a crossbow at him as Jose pressed his gun against his back.

"Sorry, amigo." Jose said, pressing his M4A1 against Merle's back as Martinez took the older Dixon's knife and pistol, "This could have been avoided if you didn't lie about Michonne."

The spanish young man slammed the back of his M4A1 against Merle's back, pushing him into the middle of the area. The Governor stepped away from him as two guards brought a squirming man with a bag over his head to the area.

"This is one of the terrorists." Philip continued as he removed the bag from the man's head, revealing him to be Daryl, "Merle's own brother!"

The crowd gasped, once again as Merle's gaze was instantly set on his younger brother. Daryl stared at his brother in shock, before looking around himself to see everyone looking at him, with hatred in their eyes. He looked at his brother again and the two of them just stared at each other, registering the fact that they found each other.

There were two people that stood out from the crowd. Andrea and Courtney stared in complete shock at the person that was just brought to the area, as their minds had just proceeded the information that Daryl was here. The people who attacked them were from their old group. Their friends, that they haven't seen in months were closer to them than they thought.

"What should we do with them, huh?" The Governor asked his people, pacing back and forth across the area, "What?"

"Kill them!" A man in the crowd cried out. The entire crowd around them seemed to agree with this man and started voicing their agreement, repeating the same two words over and over again at the same time, " **KILL THEM!** "

Merle and Daryl looked around themselves, realizing how bad their situation actually was as the Governor approached the older Dixon, "You wanted your brother. Now you got him."

* * *

**After over twenty chapters, Geoff, Trent and Eva are finally here and are at last reunited with their friends from the cast! In the next chapter we'll find out why Justin, Katie, Sadie and Beth are not with them.**

**If you're wondering how Geoff's machete looks like, just think of the Korek Machete from Dying Light.**

**And as you already know, I did a small change to the canon with Oscar surviving the rescue mission instead of dying while helping Maggie to get Glenn to the other side of the fence. I decided to keep him alive a bit longer, because I liked his character, and with him being a minor character that is not that** **important to the story, him being still alive after this episode instead dead is not going to change much.**


	28. The Suicide King

_"Kill them! Kill them! Kill them!"_

Daryl let out one exhale after another as he looked around the people who were repeating these two words over and over again while pointing at him and his brother. He clenched his fists, when he glanced over at the exit to see that it was heavily guarded by the Governor's men. There was no way he was getting out of here at this moment.

After shaking off the shock which was caused by seeing Daryl after all this time, Andrea pushed herself into run towards Philip, but was quickly caught by one of the Woodbury guards, who held her back, "Philip, don't do this. He's my friend."

Courtney rushed towards the area as well, but just like Andrea, she never made it there as anothe guard held her back, "You don't have to do this. We know him. Just let us talk with him and we can work this out."

"It's not up to me anymore. The people have spoken.." The Govenor pointed out, completely ignoring their pleads, circling around the Dixon brothers. He set his gaze on Merle, "I asked you where your loyalties lie. You said here. Well, prove it. Prove it to us all. Brother against brother. Winner goes free. Fight to the death."

The people of Woodbury quickly voiced their agreement. They started clapping, crying out in unison, _"Yeah!"_

"Y'all know me. I'm gonna do whatever I got to do to prove..." Merle declared as he raised his hand in the air, seconds before punching his brother right in the stomach, causing Daryl to collaps on the ground. The younger Dixon got himself on his fours, attempting to get up at Merle kicked him, as the crowd cheered, "That my loyalty is to this town!"

Three Woodbury guards entered the area, stopping in a circle around Daryl and Merle, each of them holding a walker on a holding stick. Daryl send a powerful punch right in Merle's face who stumbled back a bit, holding his nose with good hand. It was when he heard a grunt behind him. He turned back to see a walker standing right behind him which caused him to get back to his brother.

Daryl got himself back on his feet and rushed towards Merle but unfortunely for him, he did nothing to his older brother who easily brought him to the ground again. Merle wrapped his hands around Daryl's neck, who mananged to ask him after a few seconds of struggling, "You really think this asshole's gonna let you go?"

"Just follow my lead, little brother. We're getting out of this right now." Merle told his little brother only a second before grabbing him by his clothes, bringing his back to his feet. He and Daryl pressed their backs against each other, holding their clenched hands out in ready. One of the guards that was holding a walker approached Merle who quickly punched the undead and pushed it away from himself as Daryl made sure to do the same with a guard that did the same to him.

"Philip! Stop this!" Andrea cried out to the Governor but didn't receive the answer from him. The Governor just stared at the two brothers, looking almost as if he was relaxing by watching that.

Courtney turned her gaze away from Merle and Daryl and looked at Jose who was staring at Merle and Daryl with completely blank expression on his face. Then, she turned to look at Milton who was the only one except for them who seemed to be actually horrified by what was just happening.

Daryl grabbed the undead by it's collar, before punching it right in it's face, causing it to stumble away along with the guard holding it. Merle grabbed the other walker and threw it into the closest group of people, as the crowd around it panicked and stepped away from the undead. Merle and Daryl exchanged a look with each other as they continued to punch one walker after another, not thinking about lowering their guard for a second.

It was when hell broke loose when a shot rang through everyone's ears as Daryl's group came to his rescue. Alejandro had his scoped machine rifle placed on top of the container which was most likely serving the residents of Woodbury as a trashcan. He was looking through the scope of his weapon and fired a few bullets at the crowd of people standing in front of him, wanting to cause some panic which would allow Daryl to escape.

He had one idea that one of the bullets that he fired hit Haley right in the heart. The young woman didn't even had time to react to what was happening around her and her lifeless body collapsed on the ground, not a single breath leaving her lungs. The spanish teen looked through his scope at the nearest light source which happened to be a bunch of tall lamps and started firing at them along with Duncan while Chef and Rick pulled out two smoke grenades, and removed the pins before throwing them towards the area.

The grenades exploded and smoke started to engulf the entire area as people started to run away in panic, the smoke starting to blind their vision. Their surroundings became even less visible for them because Alejandro and Duncan destroyed each one of the lamps around the area, pieces of glass falling on the ground.

Merle screamed as he brought one walker down and got rid of it by bringing his prosthetic arm on it's head. He glanced over at his brother, "Stay close!"

"Daryl!" Courtney called out for the younger Dixon, but he couldn't hear her.

"Merle!" Daryl said to his brother, beginning to make his way towards the exit, "Let's go!"

The two brothers started to flee from the area as the Governor carefully walked through the smoke, killing one undead with his pistol. Rowan shrieked in fear when one of the walkers lunged for her, but fortunely for her, Jose came her in her aid and one bullet from his M4A1 was enough to kill the undead. She send him a quick grateful and relieved look before running away to safety.

Rick, Chef, Duncan and Alejandro remained hidden behind, waiting for Daryl to come out of the smoke, the people running past him not even noticing them. Shumpert released an arrow from the crossbow at the nearest walker, as Daryl attacked him from behind and took the weapon that belonged to him, before rushing out of the area, with Merle who knocked Shumpert down right after his brother took his crossbow from him.

The sheriff deputy nodded his head as the Dixon brothers ran past him, Chef, Duncan and Alejandro, "Daryl."

"Let's go." Chef said, as all of them started running away from the area, leaving the panicked people and the Governor who came out of the smoke with completely blank expression on his face behind.

They made their way through the streets to the nearest fence as Merle pointed at the spot between the two school buses, "They're all at the arena. This way."

"When did we say that you're coming with us?" Alejandro asked him.

"You really want to do this, now, Al?" Merle asked him in return, starting to puch the fence, making a small hole in it.

Daryl looked over his shoulder and saw his brother making his way to the other side of the fence through the hole he just made, "Guys. We gotta go."

Everyone started making their way through the hole as Chef stayed behind for a second, wanting to stay on guard until everyone will be on the other side of the fence. When he made his way there, he saw a group of walkers, which were probably led here by the noise they made while they were rescuing Daryl. They killed the ones that were the closest to them.

"We ain't got time for this." Merle stated, rushing away from the fence, as Daryl was quick to follow him.

"What are we going to do with him?" Duncan asked, turning to look at Rick.

"We'll deal with him later, once we'll join the others." Rick answered to which Chef, Duncan and Alejandro nodded in understanding, before all four of them followed the Dixon brothers.

* * *

The sun was shining on the horizon when they made their way back to the spot where they left their vehicles. Noah, Glenn, Michonne, Izzy, Maggie, Gwen and Oscar noticed them walking in their direction and headed towards their group. They immediately aimed their guns at Merle the moment they saw him walking behind the rest of their group.

"What the hell is he doing here!" Glenn shouted angrily, not even thinking about lowering his pistol.

"There's no way he's going anywhere with us!" Gwen shouted shorty after, with her pistol aimed right at Merle.

"He tried to kill me!" Michonne yelled out, pointing her katana at the older Dixon.

"He helped us escape." Daryl explained, trying to calm them down along with Rick.

"Yeah." Duncan crossed his arms, "Right after he beat the shit out of you."

Merle grinned, despise the fact that seven people were aiming their guns at him, "Hey, we both took our licks, man."

Daryl shook his head, "Jackass."

"Hey." Merle glared at his brother, "Shut up."

"Enough." Chef said, attempting to calm the rest down as much as Rick and Daryl did, "Put your guns down."

"Get that dammed thing out of my face!" Daryl shouted to Glenn and Noah who kept their pistols aimed at Merle.

Merle grinned again and leaned against the tree, "Man, look like you've gone native, brother."

Daryl turned to look at his brother, "No more than you hanging out with that psycho back there."

"Oh, yeah, man. He is a charmer, I got to tell you that." Merle nodded his head as he turned his gaze towards Michonne, a smirk forming on his lips, "Been putting the wood to your girlfriend Andrea. Big time, baby."

The entire group went silent when they heard Merle's words. They all looked at the older Dixon in shock. Andrea was in Woodbury? For all this time?

"...Andrea is in Woodbury?" Glenn asked in shock.

Merle nodded in confirmation, "Right next to the Governor."

"If Andrea is in Woodbury, so does that mean that Courtney is there too? Tell me! Is she there!?" Duncan demanded to know as he turned around to look at Merle.

"She is and let me tell ya, she sure misses her juvie." Merle confirmed with a small chuckle, with his smirk not leaving his face.

Izzy looked at Michonne, "You know Andrea and Courtney?"

"Yep." Merle confirmed it as Michonne remained silent, "They spent all winter cuddling up in the forest. My Nubian queen here had two pet walkers. No arms, cut off the jaws, kept them in chains. Kind of ironic now that I think about it. We snagged them out of the woods. Andrea and Courtney were close to dying."

"Is what why they're with him?" Maggie asked the older Dixon.

"Yeah." Merle nodded his head in confirmation, turning to look at Rick, "So what you gonna do now, Sheriff, huh? Surrounded by a bunch of liars, thugs, and cowards."

"Shut up!" Rick tried to shush him down.

Merle continued, "Oh, man, look at this. Pathetic. All these guns and no bullets in them."

"Merle, shut up!" Daryl yelled out to his brother.

Merle glared at his younger brother, "Shut up yourself! Bunch of pussies you roll..."

He was cut off when Chef slammed his M16 down on Merle's head, knocking him down. The co-host of Total Drama glared at him, "Bastard."

"Finally." Noah said, lowering his pistol as he stared at Merle's unconsciouss body, "I was seconds away from doing that myself."

"Yeah." Gwen nodded, "Thought he will never shut up."

* * *

Everyone were minding their own business in the prison. Hershel was patching up the bearded man's who introduced himself as Allen leg while his son Ben watched, Axel and Ezekiel were putting themselves some food, Sasha was talking with Beth about Judith, Chris, Heather and Carol were outside on the watch, and Harold, Cody, Leshawna, Bridgette and DJ were catching up with Geoff, Trent and Eva.

"No way!" Cody said with a smile forming on his lips as he pulled something out of Geoff's bag, "You have a chess set?"

"Yeah." Geoff nodded in confirmation, "I found it about a month ago while exploring an abadoned house. I took it because I thought we could use it, but none of us really knew how to play chess, so it just stayed in my bag since I found it."

"Would you mind if I took it?" Cody asked him, "I talked with Noah about chess a while ago. We've been searching for a chess set ever since, but neither of us got lucky."

Geoff shrugged, "Sure. It's not like any of us are going to play it."

"Thanks." Cody smiled at him, holding his new chess set, "I and Noah have a long game ahead of us once he gets back."

"Guys, I know that this will most likely ruin the moment but I feel that I need to ask you that." Harold said, as Leshawna, Geoff, Trent, Bridgette, Eva, Cody and DJ all looked at him, "What happened to Katie, Sadie, Beth and Justin?"

Geoff, Trent and even Eva looked a bit saddened by that. The party animal sighed and started, "I knew that a question like that was coming. We lost Sadie and Beth in the first few days of all of this."

"What a shitshow this day was." Eva shook her head.

"One of the toughest days of my life." Trent added, "What am I even saying. This day was tough for everyone."

"Yeah." Geoff nodded in agreement to Trent's and Eva's words, "Beth was bit by a homeless guy we were passing by in the arm. We started getting away from him before we came across two police officers who were apparently on the search for this dude after receiving a few calls from concerned people. They made sure he wasn't going to do anything before sending all of us to the hospital. Beth didn't survive the trip. She woke up, as a walker, and bit right into Sadie's neck. We had to put Beth down and Sadie bled out only a few seconds later."

"Gosh." Harold sighed, "Poor Sadie and Beth."

Bridgette shook her head, "I can only imagine how tough it was for Katie. To see her best friend like that."

"She wasn't herself after that. She practically isolated herself from the rest of us for a month." Geoff explained, confirming Bridgette's worries.

"Where have you been, after that, when everything literally went down?" Cody wanted to know, "Were you staying in some sort of camp with other survivors, or just traveled around."

"We traveled around." Geoff answered, "We were planning to stay in a safe camp that was created for the survivors, but those plans didn't work out the way we wanted them to because the camp in ruins when we arrived at it."

"Remember when we were making our way through the hallway that was filled with abandoned cars?" Trent asked Geoff and Eva.

"Don't remind me." Eva groaned, "We had to abandon our vehicle, because there was no way we could make our way through it in it."

"The worst thing we saw on that hallway was an abandoned prison bus." Trent shook his head at the disgusting imaginery of what they saw in that prison bus. Now, he would just shrug it off, because he had already gotten used to seeing such imaginery after being on the road for over a year and seeing all kinds of things, but he saw in the first week of all of this, "The prisoners really made sure to get out of this bus when they got the chance."

Leshawna placed her hand on his shoulder, "What did you see there, sugar?"

Trent sighed, "We saw two bodies of two prisoners with his head blow into pieces and the other, or rather what was left of it, was most likely torn into shreds by the walkers got into this bus, and a feet of another prisoner who must have had his feet blow off his body by the other prisoners, so they could escape. Justin had to thrown up after seeing this."

"How did those prisoners even got a gun?" Harold wondered, "I doubt that one of the people guarding them would do something like that."

"We were thinking the same." Trent said, "We got our answer when we saw two walkers, out of which one was a prisoner that got his feet blown off and the other was a prison guard."

"I made sure to finish those undead freaks off for good." Eva continued Trent's story, "We came to a conclusion that something must have happen in the prison bus between the prisoners that a guard had to point his gun at them. Something happened to the guard which gave the prisoners the access to his gun, after that they blown off the foot of one of them, and ran out of the bus."

"What happened to Justin and Katie?" Harold asked, "Are they waiting for you somewhere in the forest or are they..."

"The latter." Trent cut him off with a sigh, already knowing what the other option was going to be, "We lost them about two months ago when we were staying in an abandoned town. We apparently stepped into the territory of some gangsters who were being led a guy who called himself Triaz."

"I wish I had gotten my hands on that bastard, whoever he was." Eva shook her head angrily, "One second Katie was standing on the guard on the porch, and the next thing we know, a bullet flies right through her head, killing her instantly."

"We immediately started to make our way into the woods surrounding the town, while these guys continued to fire at us." Geoff continued the story, observing how their old friends reacted after hearing how Katie died, "We returned fire, but it didn't do nothing, as one of the bullets hit Justin in the stomach. He bled out not long after we made our way out of that town."

"We burried him under a large tree in the middle of the forest." Trent added, "He'd like that place. Wish we could do the same to Katie, but we had to leave her body back in the town."

"Did you came across this Triaz and his people after that?" DJ asked, with saddened expression on his face after finding out what happened to Katie, Justin, Sadie and Beth.

"No." Eva shook her head, "We made sure to get away from this town as fast as we could, because fighting them again with just three of us would be a suicide, but I hope that those bastards got what they deserved."

"It's been just the three of us for almost two months. We came across Tyreese and his group about a week ago." Trent added, "We tagged along with them after that. We traveled with each other for this week before finding ourselves in the hallway where Heather, Chris and Ezekiel found us."

"And, we don't need to tell you because you already know the rest." Geoff said, earning nods from Harold, DJ, Bridgette, Leshawna and Cody. He looked around himself and saw that a few people were missing, "What happened with Lindsay, Tyler, Owen and Courtney? I don't recall any of them being in the group of the members of your group that are not here at this moment that you mentioned to us earlier."

"...Lindsay died back when we were staying in Atlanta. A walker tore a hole in her stomach and she bleed out in Tyler's arms. There was nothing we could do to save her." Bridgette explained as the memories of the night when the undead attacked their camp in Atlanta flew through her head.

Trent sighed, as the thoughts of what happened to the jock appeared in his mind as he didn't recall the others mention him when they were pointing out the people who left the prison for some reason, "Poor Tyler. How did he take it?"

"Badly. He wasn't himself anymore. He almost commited suicide, but Dale who unfortunely is not with us anymore, made him change his mind." Bridgette said, gazing down sadly, "At least he died saving someone, just like he wanted."

"What do you mean by that, Bridge?" Geoff wanted to know.

"After Lindsay died, he wanted to keep the others from sharing the same fate, but many of us considered his methods to be rather questionable, myself included." DJ began, as he was one of the people who saw how Tyler got down. He paused for a second to take a look at Heather who stood on the other side of the room, "He saw Heather surrounded by the walkers, and rushed out of the car to save her. He saved Heather who made to the car, but gave up his own. We lost Owen during the same night. The walkers got him when he was making his way out of the farm house with a few others."

"We lost Courtney during that night too." Harold added, "But none of us have idea what happened to her. She can be still alive."

"This was one tough night for all of us, sugar." Leshawna shook her head, adding her part as well, "I almost died that night. Those things would get me if it wasn't for DJ, Zeke, Noah and Tyler."

"I almost died too." Bridgette said with a sigh as Geoff looked at her, looking worried, "I and Carol got separated from the others. Those things were chasing us and would most likely get us if it wasn't for Duncan and Daryl. I hopped onto the back of Duncan's motorcycle and drove off."

Geoff smiled, his worried expression fading away from his face, "I'll make sure to thank him once he'll return."

"I'm sure he will be happy to see you again." Bridgette smiled, "He told me and DJ that he missed having you around."

"You talked with Duncan?" Geoff gave her a short laugh, "I thought you didn't like him."

"Because I didn't like him before all of this, but he changed. He started showing more of his good side." Bridgette explained, "Same thing with Chris and Heather."

"What about the reporter from the Gemmy awards? Her name was Sierra, right?" Trent wanted to know if he got the name right, "I asssume that she stayed with you just like this Alejandro guy did when all of this started."

Cody bit his lips, "One of the prisoners who survived here since the beginning killed her. We burried her in the fields along with Lori and T-Dog who were killed by the same guy."

"Speaking of the prisoners." Eva said as she turned to look at Axel who was chatting with Tyreese while eating his meal, "Do you trust this guy?"

"Axel?" Leshawna asked her in return to which Eva nodded in confirmation, "That white boy seemed to be a little unstable when our group found him in the cafeteria, but he's proven himself to be a good man."

"Same thing with Oscar." Harold added, nodding his head in agreement to Leshawna's words, "He should return here with the others."

"Hopefully they will return as soon as possible." DJ stated, to which everyone agreed with him.

* * *

Rick, Chef, Glenn, Maggie, Daryl, Duncan, Alejandro, Gwen, Noah, Izzy, and Oscar were gathered in a circle, discussing what they should do with Merle. Michonne who was excluded from this discussion and watched them from the distance. Merle who regained his conciousness a while ago watched their discussion as well.

Glenn shook his head, "It won't work."

"Bringing him with us is only going to make things worse." Gwen pointed out with her arms crossed.

Daryl pointed in the direction of Woodbury, "Look, the Governor is probably on the way to the prison right now."

"I doubt that." Noah shook his head, "Our group just attacked him. He is most likely busy dealing with his people panicking about what happened last night."

Rick shook his head, "I'm not having him at the prison. Do you really want him sleeping in the same cell block as Carol or Beth or Bridgette or Heather or Leshawna?"

"He ain't rapist." Daryl pointed out.

"But his buddy is." Glenn pointed out in return, causing Maggie to look at him.

"There's no way Merle's gonna live there without putting everyone at each other's throats." Rick stated.

Daryl pointed at Michonne, "So you're gonna cut Merle loose and bring the last samurai home with us?"

"She's not in a state to be on her own." Chef pointed out, "We'll wait for her to get better and then we'll decide what to do with her."

"She did brought us to Woodbury even though she didn't had to." Izzy stated.

"This doesn't change the fact that we don't know anything about her." Rick told her in response.

"At least we know who Merle is." Daryl said as he gave his brother who watched their discussion from the woods a quick look, "Merle's blood."

"No." Alejandro shook his head, "Merle's your blood. You can say that Jose is my blood but I'm not debating if we should go back to Woodbury to convice him to go with us."

"He's right." Glenn nodded in agreement, "I know who my family is. My family is standing in front of me and rest of it is waiting for us back in the prison."

Rick leaned in a bit closer to Daryl, "And you're part of that family, but Merle's not."

"Fine." Daryl sighed, "We'll fend for ourselves."

"I don't think that this was what he was saying." Oscar stated, referring to Glenn.

"No him, no me." Daryl declared.

"Daryl, you don't have to do that." Maggie told him.

"You don't have to leave us only because your brother is who he is." Gwen added.

"It was always Merle and I before this." Daryl explained.

Izzy shook her head, "Are you just going to leave us now, after everything we've been through since Atlanta?"

"You'd do the same thing." Daryl pointed out.

"No." Alejandro shook his head, "I wouldn't."

"You'd be saying otherwise if you didn't hate your brother." Daryl told him, "You may have had other people around you growing up, like your other brother Carlos, but I didn't had anyone except for Merle."

"What are we supposed to tell Carol?" Glenn asked as he turned to look at Duncan who suprisingly stayed silent.

Daryl was silent for a few seconds, "...She'll understand."

He stepped forward and started walking towards Merle but Rick, Chef and Duncan went after him. Chef grabbed his shoulder, causing him to look at him, "There's gotta be another way."

"I'm not going to leave him." Daryl declared, "I already did that once."

"You didn't leave him." Chef pointed out, "You weren't there when it happened. You can't blame yourself for that."

"We started something last night." Rick tried to reason with him, "You realize that?"

"No him, no me. That's all I can say." Daryl repeated himself as he opened the trunk of the Hyundai and took out his bag. He slouched it over his shoulder, "Take care of yourself. Take care of lil ass-kicker."

"So this is?" Duncan asked Daryl, speaking up for the first time since the redneck declared that he's leaving with his brother, "You're leaving."

"Yes." Daryl nodded his head, "Are you going to stop me?"

"No. It's your choice to make, not mine, even though I'm sure that you already know what I think about it." Duncan answered, as he extended his hand to Daryl, "Take care of yourself out there, redneck."

Daryl shifted his glance between Duncan and Duncan's extended hand before giving it a small shake, "You too, juvie. Keep Carol alive when I'm gone. I hope you'll get your girl back."

Chef sighed, knowing that they weren't going to convice Daryl to stay without letting Merle stay in their group. He saluted, "Take care of yourself out there, soldier. I hope you know that we will always welcome you with open arms if you'll change your mind."

Daryl gave him a small salute in return, "You too, general. I'll make sure to keep that in mind."

With that, the younger Dixon send them one last nod, before turning away from them. Rick, Chef and Duncan watched how Daryl approached a grinning Merle who looked like an owner who waited for his loyal dog to return to him. The older Dixon wrapped his arm around his brother and both of them walked away, slowly disappearing in the woods.

* * *

Geoff, Trent, Eva, Tyreese, Sasha, Allen and Ben stood together in front of Donna's grave which they had dug up next to Sierra's. The party animal, the musican and the jockeness paid their respect for the fallen woman and turned around towards the gate from where Chris, Carol and Heather watched them from the distance. They said their condolences to Allen and Ben before heading away from the grave, towards the cellblock.

Allen waited until Geoff, Trent and Eva will be in a safe distance away from them before speaking up, "Golden opportunity."

"For what?" Tyreese asked him, sounding a bit confused by his words.

"These three on the watch." Allen said, moving his head in the direction of Chris, Carol and Heather, "We do it quick, they'll never know what hit them."

Ben nodded, agreeing with his father's plan, "We'll get a hold of their weapons and then take care of the rest, one by one."

Tyreese and Sasha exchanged a look with each other, not believing in what they just heard from Allen and Ben, the latter saying, "We're out here to bury Donna."

Allen looked down at the grave of his wife, "We just did it."

"What about Geoff, Trent and Eva?" Sasha asked him, "Are you going to walk over to them and ask them to help you kill their old friends?"

"I won't do that." Allen shook his head, "In case if you haven't noticed that already, with Geoff, Trent and Eva knowing some of them, and Geoff even being in the relationship with one of them, they were already accepted into their group."

An idea of what Allen was suggesting appeared in Tyreese's mind, "Tell me you're not trying to suggest..."

Allen cut him off, "They've been with us for only a week. We barely know them."

"Look around us." Ben said, "This place is secure."

Tyreese shook his head in disbelief, "These are good people."

"What are you going to do?" Sasha asked, being in disbelief just as much as Tyreese, "You gonna smash the baby's head with a rock?"

Allen shook his head, "What is your problem?"

"How about a little common decency?" Tyreese asked him, "This isn't what we do."

"You're living in the past, Ty." Allen told him in response before shifting his attention to Sasha, "So are you. This is survival of the fittest, plain and simple. In here we live, out there we die. And I am not waiting around for the rest of their group to roll in here and throw us out on our asses."

* * *

Andrea and Courtney came out of the medical building of Woodbury and came down the steps, walking into the streets and approaching Milton who was waiting for them.

"How many injured?" He wanted to know, starting to walk through the streets with them.

"Nine." Courtney answered, "Stevens has it covered."

"Where is he?" Andrea asked Milton, referring to the Governor.

"In his apartment. I and Jose trited to talk with him." Milton replied, "He wouldn't open the door. Said he was in the middle of something. It's all going to hell."

Their talk was interrupted when they saw a white car drive past them. They titled their heads in it's direction to see the residents of Woodbury standing in front of the main gate. All of them were carrying bags with their stuff which meant only one thing, they wanted to leave.

"Open the gate!" A black haired woman yelled out to Martinez, Shumpert and Jose who stood on the walls.

"Back away, everyone!" Martinez shouted to them in response, but they didn't listen to him.

"It's not safe here. We want to leave." The same woman shouted in return.

Jose pointed behind him, "There's muertos out here, senorita!"

"Let us out!" Some black skinned woman shouted to them.

Andrea, Milton and Courtney started making their way to the people, intending to try to calm the crowd down as Shumpert looked over his shoulder and saw the undead heading their way, "Martinez, Jose, biters!"

Martinez and Jose quickly reacted to his words and turned away from the crowd to look at the walkers walking towards the gate. They along with Shumpert and other guards on the wall started shooting them down, one by one, making sure to use as less ammunition as possible, ignoring the cries of people behind them.

"Everybody calm down." Andrea said as she approached the crowd along with Courtney and Milton.

The black haired woman grabbed Courtney's arm, "We can't stay here."

"Karen, you don't want to go out there. You've been behind the wall for too long." Courtney told her, "Things are worse than they were a few months ago. It's too dangerous."

"Yeah." The black skinned man scoffed, "We'll take our chances."

The man in the white car started beeping his horn as Martinez looked down at him and glared, "Hey, knock off the horn."

"Knock off the horn!" Jose ordered, glaring the man who kept beeping, despise all of the guards telling him to stop doing so. He started coming down the steps along with Martinez, with their guns aimed at the man, "You want to led more muertos to our town?!"

"Martinez! Jose!" Andrea cried out the two men who ignored her.

Jose opened the doors of the car as Martinez pulled the driver out, throwing him to the ground. Courtney stepped between them and the man, "Can't you see that these people are scared by what happened last night?"

"Shoving your guns to their faces is not going to help." Andrea said, bringing the man back to his feet, "You're making things worse."

Martinez and Jose looked at her as if she was stupid, "We are?"

It was when a loud scream rang through everyone's ears. They all turned around to see two people, a man and a woman running away from a few walkers that somehow made their way to the other side of the fence. Andrea, Courtney, Jose and Martinez quickly pushed themselves into run, intending to help them as two walkers bit into the man and brought him down the ground.

"Get back!" Martinez shouted to the woman who ran past them, joining the other Woodbury residents a few seconds later.

Courtney aimed her pistol at the walker heading towards the screaming man and one shot the to the head was enough to take it down as Martinez aimed his weapon at another approaching walker and got rid of it as Jose and Andrea made sure to take care of the undead who were feasting on the screaming man.

"Oh my gosh." Karen said in horror at the view of man who was in pain, approaching the scene with everyone else, "Do something."

Jose sighed, "There's nothing we can do to save him."

The man let out a weak, "Help."

They didn't spot the Governor walking out of the building. He approached the man and aimed his pistol at his forehead, firing one bullet which hit him right between his eyes, ending his misery. Everyone turned away from the corpse and looked at their leader who didn't even look at them and started making his way back to his apartament, shutting the door behind him.

"I'll go talk with him." Andrea whispered to Courtney, "You make sure that nobody is going to panix."

The CIT nodded head at her as they lawyer followed the Governor into his apartament. He opened the doors to his house and instantly voiced her thoughts about what he had just done, "What the hell was that? You put a round in a man's head in front of all those people and just take off? You have to talk to them."

Philip reloaded his pistol and looked at her, "Why?"

"They're panicking." Andrea pointed out, "They were ready to charge through those gates."

"So let them." The Governor shrugged, "Those people have had it easy. Barbecues and picnics. That ends now."

"Don't blame them for the mess that you created." Andrea snapped, "They're scared."

"Well, I'm through holding their hands." Philip told her in response, "We're at war. I should have seen that."

Andrea crossed her arms, "So why was Daryl here? Was he part of the assault? Why would he do that."

"He came for his friends. The other people you know." Philip explained, "Glenn, Maggie, Gwen and Noah. Merle scooped them up on the run. He and Jose were holding them to find out where their brothers were."

"M-My friends are still alive and we're shooting at each other?" Andrea stuttered out in shock. How was she going to tell Courtney about all of this?, "You're trying to execute them?"

"Your friends killed eight good people. Crowley, Tim, Gargulio, Eisenberg, Warren, Marco, Bob Adams and Haley." The Governor pointed out, as came over to the window and pointed at the lifeless body of a man he had just killed, "That man out there, Rich Foster, he makes nine. So that's what your friends did."

* * *

Rick, Chef, Glenn, Maggie, Duncan, Oscar, Izzy, Alejandro, Gwen and Noah had just arrived back at the prison. They all got themselves out of their vehicles and were instantly greeted back by their friends and family members. Maggie shared a hug with Beth and Hershel as Ezekiel went over to Izzy and Noah to greet them back. Izzy handed Ezekiel the speargun she found in the cabin in the woods, for which the homeschool was extremely grateful.

Harold, DJ and Bridgette walked over to Duncan, each of them offering the juvie a quick pat on his back as Axel went over to Oscar, offering his fellow prisoner a pat on his shoulder, happy that he had returned from the mission.

Heather approached Alejandro and spotted his rather grim expression, "What happened?"

Alejandro was silent for a moment before replying, "I found Jose."

"What?" Heather asked him, suprised, knowing about Alejandro's hated brother, "Is he the guy who is the leader of this entire community that took Glenn, Gwen, Noah and Maggie?"

"No." Alejandro shook his head, a sigh leaving his lungs, 'He's one of his soldiers."

"Damn, sister." Leshawna said, eyeing Gwen's bruises as she went over to welcome the goth back along with Cody, "What the hell did they do to you?"

"I still got off easy compared to Glenn and Noah." Gwen said, turning to look at Glenn and Noah, "They could barely walk when Rick and the rest rescued us."

"Who did this to you?" Cody asked her.

Gwen sighed, "Rick will fill all of you in in a moment."

"We have a new problem on our backs?" Leshawna wanted to know.

"Yeah." Gwen gave her friend a nod of confirmation.

Cody nodded his head at Gwen's words before turning around to look at Noah who was having a conversation with Izzy and Ezekiel, "Hey, Noah!"

Noah turned to look at him, "What?"

"I found some chess set with all the pieces." Cody informed, "We can play it once you'll get better."

"How did you find a chess set out here?" Noah asked him.

Cody looked at Leshawna and the duo exchanged a smile. The geek turned around and called out, "Come on out!"

Noah, Izzy, Ezekiel and Gwen turned in the direction in which Cody was staring and saw Geoff, Eva and Trent walking out of the cellblock, entering the yard where the others were.

"No way!" Izzy smiled as she ran over to Eva and hugged her. The jockeness was a bit suprised by this sudden hug, but slowly hugged her back, "Eva! You're here!"

"Look at what cat dragged in." Noah said, approaching Izzy and Eva with Ezekiel.

"Damn." Eva eyed the state Noah was in as Izzy released her from the hug, "You look like absolute shit."

"Thanks for this brillant observation, Iron Woman." Noah rolled his eyes before a small smile appeared on his lips, "It's nice to see you again."

"Is that genuine or not?" Eva wanted to be sure.

"It is." Noah assured her with a small nod of his head.

Eva gave him a small smile in response, "You too."

Gwen could feel a smile growing on her lips as Trent walked over to her, Leshawna and Cody, "How?"

"Chris, Heather and Zeke found us fighting a group of the walkers in the hallways and brought us in." Trent explained, smilling.

The goth smiled back at him, "This is the best news I heard in all day."

"Holy shit." Duncan shook his head with a smile, as Geoff made his way to him, Harold, DJ and Bridgette, "This is something I wasn't excepting to see today."

Geoff bumped fists with the juvie, "It's good to see you again, dude."

"Yeah." Duncan nodded his head at him, "You too."

"Bridgette told me that you saved her a few months back." Geoff gave him a smile, "Thank you for this."

Duncan shrugged, "I did what anyone else would do in this situation."

"Duncan." Carol called out for the juvie as she approached him, Harold, Bridgette, Geoff and DJ, "Where's Daryl?"

instantly after hearing this, DJ, Harold, and Brigette eyed their surroundings to see that Daryl indeed hadn't returned from the rescue mission. The brickhouse looked at Duncan, a hint of worry in his eyes, "Duncan? What happened to Daryl?"

Bridgette gasped and placed her hand over her mouth when the worst scenario flew through her mind, "Is he?"

"Don't worry. He's not dead. We all know that the only thing that can kill Daryl is Daryl himself." Duncan explained as Carol, Bridgette, Harold, and DJ seemed to calm down a bit after his explanation, "He left."

"Why?" Carol wanted to know, looking like she was about to cry.

"Two words." Duncan sighed, placing his hand on Carol's shoulder to comfort her, "Merle Dixon."

Bridgette's eyes snapped open, remembering that she was one of the people that left Merle Dixon on the roof back in Atlanta, "What?"

"We ran into him." Duncan explained, "They went off together."

Chris smiled as he approached Rick and Chef with Hershel. He offered Chef a pat on his shoulder, "You brought them back."

"You came through." Hershel said to Rick and Chef, shaking the former's hand, "Like always."

"We did." Chef nodded with a sigh, "But we have new problem on our hands."

"Took those words out of my mouth." Hershel agreed with Chef before turning his gaze towards Rick, "Either of you got a good look at him?"

"He had Daryl and Merle pitted against each other." Rick explained, "A crowd cheering for them to fight to the death. What kind of sick man does that?"

Hershel shook his head, "The kind this world creates."

"How many people does he have?" Chris wanted to know, "The ones that are capable of going here with him?"

"No idea." Chef shook his head, "We didn't have a chance to take good look but we managed to kill a few them while rescuing our people."

"It doesn't change anything." Hershel stated, "He still can train his other people. He can come here and completely outnumber us."

"Yeah." Chris sighed, "There's other thing we need to talk about."

"I was about to bring this up, pretty boy." Chef told him, "How did you find them?"

"They somehow made their way into the prison. I, Heather and Zeke found them battling the walkers in the hallways." Chris explained.

"Are those the people you've been mentioning from time to time?" Rick asked them, wanting to be sure, "The ones who weren't with you when your bus crashed in the forest?"

"Yes." Chef nodded in confirmation, "The people you have just seen were Geoff, Trent and Eva."

"Can they be trusted?" Rick asked him another question, shifting his glance between Chris and Chef.

"You don't need to worry about them, Rick." Chris gave him an assuring nod, "They're simply happy to be reunited with their old friends."

"I haven't seen Bridgette smile this much in days." Hershel added his part with a small smile.

"Then, I don't see the problem in them." Rick told him, "They can stay with us."

"That's not the problem I talking about." Chris explained, "They didn't came here alone. There were a few other people with them."

* * *

Andrea and Milton stepped out of the Governor's apartament and walked out of the building, stepping into the crowd of people outside who were talking between themselves about everything that had happened.

"Everyone if I could..." Milton began was cut off as the were people kept talking with each other, as if they didn't even heard him, "If I could have your attention."

"Everyone! Be quiet!" Courtney declared as everyone stopped talking and looked at the CIT, "Milton wants to tell us something."

"Thank you, Courtney." Milton gave the CIT a grateful nod, before looking around the people surrounding him, "The biters on the perimeter have been dispatched. The fences have been repaired..."

Karen cut him off, "For now."

"Where the Governor?" A black skinned man demanded to know as everyone gave their own responses of agreement.

"...His condition is unsteady." Milton replied after a moment, "The wound he suffered..."

"Our friends were killed, man." Someone from the crowd spoke up.

"He shot Richard." Karen pointed out.

"Richard was bit, senorita." Jose pointed out in return, "What Philip did was mercy."

"We've all suffered." Karen told the spanish young man, "We want answers."

"You're right, Karen. You're right." Andrea nodded in agreement, causing everyone to look at her, "Every one of us has suffered. We don't even have funerals anymore because the death never stops. We're never gonna be the same. Ever. So what do we do? We dig deep and we find the strength to carry on. We work together and we rebuild..."

"Not just fences." Courtney decided to add her part to Andrea's speech as everyone shifted their attention towards the CIT, "The gates, the community, but ourselves. Our hearts, our minds. And years from now, when they write about this plague in the history books, they will write about Woodbury. They will write that we persevered."

* * *

Rick, Chef and Chris made their way into the cellblock and and walked over to the cell where Hershel and DJ were patching up sleeping Michonne after the fight she had with the Governor back in Woodbury.

"How is she doing?" Chef asked the eldery man.

Hershel turned to look at them, and started rising up from Michonne's bunk, "Pretty sure she has a concussion."

"How long before she can travel?" Rick wanted to know.

"Couple of days at most." DJ explained, "If she wakes up."

Rick, Chef and Chris all nodded their heads moved out of the way, allowing DJ and Hershel to exit Michonne's cell.

"What now?" Beth asked as Hershel locked Michonne's cell.

"You think the Governor will retaliate?" Bridgette asked shorty ater.

"We just attacked his town." Oscar crossed his arms, "It's a matter of time before he will strike back."

"We will have to put more on the watch." Harold stated, "We have no idea when he will come here and we have to ready to strike back when it will happen."

"He's got the entire town to back him down." Alejandro added, "We're outnumbered and outgunned."

"What are we going to do now, eh?" Ezekiel wanted to know.

Chef turned in the direction of the place where the group was keeping Tyreese and his group, "There's someone I think we should talk to."

The group instantly knew to what he was referring to. All of them made their way into the room as Rick stood in front of his group. Tyreese and his group stopped what they were doing when they saw them enter the room and the dark skinned man saw this as an opportunity to talk with the sheriff deputy. He stood up from his seat and came over to him.

"I'm Tyreese." He introduced himself to Rick, holding his hand out for handshake but the sheriff deputy just stared at him, not saying a word. The dark skinned man lowered his hand and introduced his group, "This is my sister, Sasha, Allen, his son Ben and I'm sure that you already know Geoff, Trent and Eva."

"How did you get in?" Rick wanted to know.

"Fire damage to the administrative part of the prison." Tyreese explained, "Wall's down."

"That side's completely overrun with walkers." Rick stated, "How'd you get this far?"

Tyreese shook his head, "We didn't. We lost our friend Donna."

"I'm sorry about your friend." Rick offered his condolences to Tyreese, "We know what that's like."

"Hershel and Chris said you could use some extra hands." Tyreese told him, "We're no stranger to hard work."

"I talked with Geoff, Rick. He said that they are good people," Bridgette spoke up as Rick turned to look at the surfer, "I know that you don't have right to trust him, because you don't know him, but you trust me, right?"

Tyreese gave the surfer a grateful look before continuing, "We'll go out and get our own food, stay out of your hair. You got a problem with another group, we'll help with that, too. Anything to contribute."

"Rick. I know that you may have hard time trusting new people after what happened with Tomas and Andrew and I can't blame you for that because I was the one who killed Tomas after he tried to kill us." Chris placed his hand on Rick's shoulder, seeing that his friend was still hesitant about letting them stay, causing the sheriff deputy to turn around and look at him, "But Oscar and Axel weren't like them, and they are part of our group right now."

"You've done so much for us." Hershel added, "I appreciate that. We all do. We owe you our lives. We've done everything you asked without question. And I'm telling you, you're wrong on this. You've got to start giving people a chance."

Rick was silent. He looked over Hershel's and Chris' shoulders and eyed each member of his group. He finally nodded his head and let out a quiet, "Yeah."

He turned around back to Tyreese and his group, and was about to tell that he was willing to give them a chance but his words died in his throat when he saw someone standing above them. He narrowed his eyes and realized who it was a few seconds later. It was his wife. It was Lori.

He pressed his hands against his head, whispering, 'No, no, no..." over and over again.

Chef looked at him in worry, "Rick?"

Rick looked up at his wife and said, "Why are you here? What do you want from me?"

"Dad?" Carl said, confused by his fathers behaviour.

" **NO!** " Rick snapped at the top of his lungs, his eyes not leaving his wife, "I can't help you. Get out!"

"What are you doing?" Gwen asked him.

"Rick, easy." Glenn told him, "There's no need to..."

"You don't belong here!" Rick kept shouting at his wife, ignoring everyone else in the room, "Get out! Please! Get out!"

Everyone backed away as Rick kept shouting at Lori, not seeing how everyone was reacting to his behaviour. Axel got himself in front of Carol as if he wanted to protect from Rick doing something, DJ exchanged a disturbed look with Duncan, and Leshawna grabbed Carl's shoulder and brought the boy a bit away from him father.

Rick stopped shouting when his wife faded away from his gaze. He turned around himself to see that everyone, including his group were staring at him as if he had just gone crazy.

* * *

**With the trailer for the new episodes of TWD recently coming out (excited about Here's Negan stuff), I have a small question for you:**

**From the original cast of TD (Including Chris and Chef), who do you think is going to survive to the Commonwealth arc? (Pick at least five characters)**


	29. Home

Geoff, Trent and Eva walked out of the cellblock and started heading towards Tyreese, Sasha, Allen and Ben who were standing in the yard, preparing themselves to leave. Heather, Alejandro and Oscar who were watching over Tyreese's group noticed Trent, Eva and Geoff walking over to the people that they arrived at the prison with and stepped away from them, deciding to give them a bit privacy because they already had an idea why they wanted to talk with them.

"Guys." Trent rubbed the back of his head, trying to form words in his mind as he and his friends stopped in front of Tyreese, Sasha, Ben and Allen, "I don't really know what to say to you."

"We're sorry is all we can say." Geoff spoke up, "I wish things have turned out better."

"Don't be sorry, any of you." Tyreese assured them, placing his hand on the party's animal shoulder to which Sasha nodded in agreement. Allen and Ben however, were clearly displeased by how things have turned out, but were remaining silent, "These guys here, they are your friends, your girlfriend. You haven't seen them since all of this started. I know that I would do the same if I was in your situation."

"So, we're cool?" Trent wanted to be sure, in a hopeful tone, "You're not angry at us?"

"We aren't." Sasha gave him an assuring nod, ignoring Allen and Ben scoffing behind them, "If I was in your position and Tyreese was in position of your friends, then I would surely do the same."

"Stay alive out there." Eva spoke up, shitfting her attention between Tyreese and Sasha, "Don't let those things get you."

"You too." Sasha told her in return

Tyreese gave Geoff a pat on his back, "Take care of your girlfriend, Geoff. Even though I barely had a chance to talk with her, I can see that she is a good person."

The party animal gave him a small nod and a smile, "Trust me, Ty. I will."

It was when Alejandro, Heather and Oscar approached them and Tyreese's group instantly knew what it meant. Tyreese and Sasha said their last goodbyes to Geoff, Trent and Eva, while Allen and Ben decided to stay silent, only giving them an angry looks. They all picked up their stuff and started heading towards the main gate.

Tyreese and his group took the lead as Heather, Alejandro and Oscar walked closely behind them. They stopped in front of the main gate as Alejandro pulled keys out of his pocket and opened it, allowing Tyreese's group to exit the area of the prison. Eva, Geoff and Trent watched from the distance how Tyreese, Sasha, Allen and Ben disappeared in the woods.

All of them turned their gaze away from the woods and started heading back to the cellblock. They passed by Rick who just came out of the cellblock to get some fresh air. The newcomers made sure to avoid his gaze, still feeling a bit creeped out about last night, even though their old friends assured them that it was first time when the leader of their group acted like that.

The sheriff deputy made his way over to the fence and pulled out his binoculars, beginning to look around his surroundings. He spotted Heather, Alejandro and Oscar standing in front of the main gate, Michonne checking the flipped over prison bus and a woman standing in front of T-Dog's, Sierra's, Lori's and Donna graves. A woman that was dressed in a pure white dress.

He stopped looking through his binoculars and placed it in his pocket. He pushed himself into a walk and started walking over to the graves of the people from his group. He made his way over to the woman who disappeared the moment he arrived at his destination. He let out one deep inhale after another as he started looking around himself, attempting to spot this woman again.

It didn't took him long to spot her again. He saw her standing between the fences. In front of the exact same spot where his group made hole when they arrived at the prison for the first time. The woman started walking along the path as Rick pushed himself into run, hoping to catch up to her before she'll disappear again.

About a minute had to pass before he made his way to the hole in the fence and opened it. He climbed through it and set his gaze on the woman who was now standing ona small wooden bridge above a creek right in front of the woods.

He placed his feet on the bridge and took one careful step after another. He stopped when he found himself standing in front of the woman which turned out to be his wife, Lori. She held her hand out to him and placed it on his cheek. Rick exhaled deeply as Lori placed her other hand on his other cheek and placed her forehead against his.

He was unaware that someone was watching him. Michonne watched the entire thing from where she stood with a weirded out expression forming on her facial features.

* * *

Daryl stared through the scope of his crossbow, leaning against a tree as he had no idea for how he and his brother were walking through the forest. His brother was standing a few meters behind him in front of a tree, relieving himself on it.

The younger Dixon eyed his surroundings, trying to spot anything eatible and spoke up to his brother, "There ain't nothing out here but mosquitoes and ants."

"Patience, little brother." Merle told him, "Sooner or later, a squirrel is bound to scurry across your path."

"Even so, that ain't much food." Daryl pointed out.

Merle shrugged, "More than nothing."

"I'd have better luck going through one of them houses we passed back on the turnoff." Daryl stated.

"Is that what your new friends taught you? Hmm?" Merle asked as he turned around to look at his little brother, zipping his pants, "How to loot for booty?"

Daryl rolled his eyes at his brothers question, "We've been at it for hours. Why don't we find a stream, try to look for some fish?"

"I think you're just trying to lead me back to the road, man." Merle stated, "Get me over to that prison."

"They got shelter." Daryl began, "Food. A pot to piss in. Might not be a bad idea."

"For you, maybe." Merle told him, "Ain't gonna be no damn party for me."

"Everyone will get used to each other." Daryl stated with a small shrug of his shoulders.

"They're all dead. Makes no difference." Merle stated in return.

"How can you be so sure?" Daryl wanted to know.

"Right about now he's probably hosting a housewarming party where's he gonna bury what's left of your pals." Merle answered as he gave his brother a quick pat on his shoulder, "Let's hook some fish."

* * *

Chris, Chef, Ezekiel, Glenn, DJ, Maggie, Gwen, Bridgette, Beth, Leshawna, Hershel, Duncan and Harold were gathered in the cellblock. The asian man was down on his knees, drawing something on the floor with white chalk while the others watched, waiting for him to finish.

The co-host of Total Drama pointed at one of the spots that Glenn drew as the asian man had finished his drawing. He lifted his gaze up to Chris and Ezekiel, "Now you said you found Tyreese's group here?"

"Yeah." Chris confirmed to which Ezekiel nodded in confirmation, "It was exactly in this spot."

Duncan crossed his arms, "We secured this place."

Glenn sighed, "There must be another breach."

"Gosh." Harold let out a sigh as well, "The whole front of the prison is unsecure. If walkers just strolled in, then it's gonna be cake for a group of armed men."

"And it's only one of our worries." Duncan pointed out as he looked at Harold, "We can't forget about the fact that Courtney and Andrea are with this guy."

"Why are we even so sure he's going to attack?" Beth asked, "Maybe you scared him off."

"We killed some of his goons when we were breaking out, Beth." Gwen explained, "He is not going to let us go after us. He doesn't seem like this type of a guy."

"You don't need to worry about the breach." Trent spoke up, causing everyone to look at him, Geoff and Eva as they joined the discussion, "We can take you straight to the place which we used to get here and patch it up."

"You let us stay here." Geoff added, "It's the least we can do for you right now, at least until this dude comes here."

Chef nodded as he turned to look at Chris, "Pretty boy, you will take Harold, Gwen and Leshawna with you and go with them. We need to get rid of this breach as fast as possible."

"Got it. We'll leave as soon as we can." Chris nodded his head, Harold, Gwen and Leshawna doing the same. They had to be ready, in case if the Governor will really come here, which he thought was quite likely.

"How about we'll hit him before he hits us." Glenn spoke up, earning everyone's attention, "He won't be expecting it. We'll sneak back in and put a bullet in his head. That woman knows where his apartament is. We'll take whoever we need for this mission and head out tonight."

"He didn't know you were coming last time and look what happened." Hershel began as Glenn looked at him, "You and Noah could barely walk. Daryl was captured. And you, Maggie, Gwen and Noah were almost executed."

Glenn came closer to Hershel, "You can't stop me."

"Rick would never allow this." Hershel stated.

"You really think he's in any position to make that choice?" Glenn asked him, recalling the last night events when Rick creeped out everyone by his shouting at nothing.

"Think this through clearly. T-Dog lost his life here. Lori and Sierra did too. The men that were here. It isn't worth any more killing." Hershel stated, "If he's really on his way, we should be out of here by now."

DJ sighed, "I would consider this option, but things have changed in our group since the last time when we lived on the road."

"We can put leaving as one of our options, but only when we'll be in a situation that we'll have no other choice and we'll know that running away will our best and only option." Chef stated.

Harold nodded in agreement, deciding to add his part, "We worked so hard to live in this place. We can't just run just because we came across some sort of danger."

"Exactly." Chef nodded his head at the nerd.

"All right." Hershel nodded, "We'll stay put. We're gonna defend this place. We're making a stand."

* * *

The Governor entered Milton's lab to see his close assiocate sitting on the chair. Milton couldn't hear him because he had an earbuds placed his ears, relaxing to some music after some stressful days. Philip made his way over to the glasses wearing man and pulled something out of his pocket. He threw it on the table, suprising and scaring Milton who jumped in his seat and quickly pulled the earbuds out of his ears.

"Alpha waves." Milton explained to what he was listening, turning the radio from which the alpha waves were coming from off, "I was trying to induce a meditative state." He stood up from his chair and came over to the other table, picking up a walkie-talkie "Your battery, it's over here."

The Governor sat down on Milton's chair, "You've been invaluable. Do you intend to stay?"

"Leaving's never crossed my mind." Milton assured him with a nod of his head.

"Good." The Governor smiled, "'Cause I count on you. And not just for your expertise. But I consider you a friend."

Milton nodded his head in response, "Me too."

"I counted on Merle too." Philip began as he stood up from Milton's seat, and walked over to the glasses wearing man, stopping in front of him, "I consider Jose a friend too. He's a good soldier. So is Martinez. They'd take a bullet if I needed them to. Would you?"

"I would." Milton gave him a shaky nod, "Yes."

"And Andrea, and Courtney, I'm not sure where their loyalties lie." The Governor stated, "I can see how their previous affiliation with Merle, no matter how contentious it was, could cause doubt. You keep tabs on both of them for me."

Milton's response was quick, "Of course."

This answer was enough for the Governor. He turned away from Milton and exited his lab. Jose waited for him outside. They exhanged a look and headed into the streets, "Did you and Martinez gathered the crew?"

Jose nodded in confirmation, "Yes."

"Who are we taking with us?" The Governor asked him another question.

"The usual." Jose explained, "With the addition of Terry."

"Terry?" Philip asked him, "Is he even ready to go out with us?"

"He wasn't a few days ago, but considering the losses in people we had over the past few days, we need him." Jose gave the Governor his reasons.

* * *

Andrea and Courtney walked through the streets of Woodbury, looking for a few certain people that they wanted to talk with. Neither of them has seen the Governor today and there were only a few people in Woodbury that might have know where he is. They started making their way over to the walls, intending to ask the people who were on the watch right now where two of these people were.

"Hey, Karen." The CIT called out to the black haired woman who looked down at them, "Where's Jose? And Martinez?"

Karen shook her head, "I don't know."

"Did you see either of them leave?" Andrea wanted to know.

"Yeah." Karen answered with a nod of her head.

"Were they with someone?" Andrea asked her another question. When Karen remained silent, she added, "Karen, it's okay. You can tell me."

"I don't know anything." Karen explained. Andrea and Courtney had no idea if she was telling them the truth or not.

Courtney looked over shoulder and saw Milton walking through the streets, "Andrea. There's Milton. He should know."

Andrea turned around and looked in the direction that Courtney was looking at and spotted Milton as well. She and the CIT pushed themselves into run towards him, "Milton! Hey, Milton!"

Milton turned around and saw Andrea and Courtney running towards him. He sighed and looked down at his watch as they stopped in front of him. He let out a "You startled me.", doing his best to sound as natural as he could.

"Milton, where is he?" Courtney asked him.

"Where's who?" Milton asked her in return.

"The Governor." Andrea answered as if it was the most obvious question she has ever heard.

"And Jose." Courtney added, "And Martinez."

"They're out on a run?" Milton answered in more of a asking manner.

The CIT titled her head, "Is that an answer or a question?"

"I'm not sure..." Milton answered with a small pause, "...Where any of them is. I mean, not whether it was a question or an answer. It was an answer."

"A run meaning what specifically?" Courtney wanted to know.

"Supplies would be a safe bet." Milton stated, giving them an uncertain nod of his head, "We were wiped out."

"Milton, I want you to give us a specific answer to a specific question." Andrea pointed out to which Courtney nodded her head in agreement, "Where's the Governor, and Jose and Martinez?"

"On a run?" Milton replied, once again sounding like he was asking them a question, instead of giving them an answer, "You know, I bet they'll be back soon. I'm sure they're okay, if that's what you're worried about."

* * *

The group started preparing the prison just in case if the Governor really striked bac. Geoff, Trent, Chris, Harold, Leshawna and Gwen headed into the hallways, intending to show everyone how they made their way into the prison, but another problem arose when they found out that the boiler room was infested with the undead. Carol, Duncan and Axel were busy reinforcering a fence in the yard. Chef pointed out that someone had to take care of it and all three of them volunteered to do this job.

"I hope nothing happens. Guns scare the bejesus out of me." Axel began, trying to start a conversation with them, "I robbed a gas station with a toy gun. Never even took it out of my pocket."

"You robbed a gas station with a toy gun?" Duncan asked, leaning against a fence, as Axel nodded in confirmation, "I found myself in the juvie for doing something worse than that."

"Now that you mentioned it." Carol spoke up,"You never actually told me what got you into the juvienille hall."

"If you only knew what they didn't catch me on doing." Duncan pointed out.

"Should I be afraid?" Carol asked him, in a more of a joking manner.

Duncan shrugged, "Does it matter?"

"Not really." Carol stated as she turned to look at Axel, "You said Oscar was the thief. That you were in here for pharmaceuticals."

"Well, I didn't want y'all to think I was a violent man." Axel explained his reasons, "If you follow me. The toy gun wasn't even the reason why I ended up here. The next day the cops found me at my brother's house. Still had the water pistol in my pocket. I swore up and down that that was the only weapon I had, but they said they didn't believe anyone could be so stupid and get away with it. So they turned my brother's house upside down and found his .38. Said it "matched the description." There you go. Armed robbery."

Carol exchanged a look with Duncan and laughed before asking, "You're all about the truth now?"

"I am." Axel nodded in confirmation as he looked down at his pistol, "Tell you the truth, I don't even know how to use this damn thing."

Carol took Axel's pistol and unloaded it, "It's fully loaded." She loaded it again, "Let's hope it stays that way."

"You're quite a lady." Axel stated to which Carol smiled while Duncan rolled his eyes.

* * *

More time passed and Daryl and Merle spend this entire time walking through the forest, taking step after step which was leading them towards nowhere and the younger Dixon knew that. He shook his head, trying not to think about his friends back in prison. Merle was his only family now, just like for most of his time. They went through so many things together and he knew that they were going to make through this too.

"Hmm." His older brother began, "Smells to me like the Sawhatchee Creek."

"We didn't go west enough." Daryl stated, "There's a river down there, it's got to be the Yellow Jacket."

"You have a stroke, boy?" Merle asked him, "We ain't never even come close to Yellow Jacket."

"We didn't go west. Just a little bit south." Daryl told Merle, "That's what I think."

Merle snorted, "Know what I think? I may have lost my hand, but you lost your sense of direction."

"Yeah." Daryl shrugged, "We'll see."

"What do you want to bet?" Merle asked.

Daryl shook his head, "I don't want to bet nothing. It's just a body of water. Why's everything got to be a competition with you?"

"Take it easy, little brother. Just trying to have a little fun here." Merle explained as something that sounded like a cry of a child rang through their ears, "No need to get your panties all in a bundle."

Daryl's gaze instantly went in the direction of the sound, "You heard that?"

Merle shrugged his shoulders to that, "Yeah, wild animals getting wild."

"It's a baby." Daryl stated.

"Oh, come on. Why don't you just piss in my ear and tell me it's raining, too? That there's the sound of a couple of coons making love, sweet love. Know what I mean?" Merle said, grinning at his own joke.

Daryl just gave him a besumed look and started walking in the direction of the sound, as someone started crying out something in spanish. Merle followed him and the two brothers found themselves staring at the bridge where a family was fighting off a group of the undead. Merle laughed at the view of a man standing on top of one of the cars as his younger brother walked past him and started making his way over to the bridge.

"What?" His older brother asked him, starting to follow him, "Hey, man, I ain't wasting my bullets on a couple of strangers that ain't never cooked me a meal or felicitated my piece. That's my policy. You'd be wise to adopt it, brother."

Daryl ignored him and proceeded make his way to the bridge as two men were fighting off an undead from the top of car. One of them fired his revolved, killing two of the walkers attacking him and his friend, but unfortunely his gun ran out of the bullets before he could take care of more of them. A walker lunged for him and grabbed his leg, attempting to bite it, but fortunely for the mexican man, a arrow came flying from the woods and landed right in the walkers brain, killing it for good.

They turned in the direction from which the arrow came from and saw Daryl who had made his way to the bridge and was already loading another arrow into his crossbow. He fired it the approaching walker, getting rid of it before pulling out his knife and placing it right in the brain of another approaching walker, getting rid of it as well.

"Come on, man. I'm trying to help you out!" He cried out to the two men as most of the undead on the bridge shifted their attention towards him.

The man with a revolver quickly reloaded his gun and started firing at every walker that caught his attention as Daryl spotted a walker laying on top of the front window of a car. He narrowed his eyes and saw a woman holding a crying few months old child in there. He fired another arrow from his crossbow right at the undead on the front window and killed it.

He pushed himself into run towards the car, knowing that he had to hurry if he wanted to help the woman in the car. He slammed the back of his crossbow on the walker and it's blood splattered all across the window, before moving over to the walker that was climbing through the trunk of the car, trying to reach the woman and the baby.

He grabbed the undead by it's legs and pulled it towards himself. Before the undead could get back to what it was doing, he grabbed the doors of a trunk and brought it down on the walkers head. The head exploded into pieces and fresh blood splattered all across the trunk and the ground. Daryl ignored the gruesome image in front of him and was about get away from the car, but a walker standing in his way prevented him from doind so.

"Daryl! I got ya!" Merle cried out to his brother and pulled out his revolver. He fired it and one bullet was enough to take the walker in his brothers way down, "Go!"

Daryl didn't waste any second and quickly ran over to his brother and to the two mexican men, pulling an arrow out of the walkers head in the process. He loaded it into his crossbow as the mexican man once again ran out of the bullets in his gun. He didn't have time to reload it because an undead was right in front of him, so he started slamming his empty revolver against the walker.

The younger Dixon didn't fail to notice this. He quickly got rid of a walker coming his way before placing his crossbow aside. He pulled out his knife and quickly ran over to the mexican man. He stabbed the undead the man was fighting off right in the brain and kicked the walker off the bridge. The water splattered as the undead's now lifeless corpse landed in the lake under the bridge.

Daryl and the mexican man he had just saved exchanged a look with each other, before the younger Dixon started making his towards his crossbow as Merle made his way over to the trunk of the car and opened it, revealing everything that the family had with them. He grinned, knowing that he and his brother were going to make a good use of this stuff.

The mexican man said something to him, clearly displeased by what Merle was doing, but neither of the Dixons could understand him. Merle aimed his revolver at him, shushing him, "Slow down, beaner. That ain't no way to say thank you."

"Let them go." Daryl told his brother.

"The least they can do is give us an enchilada or something, huh?" Merle stated, as he holstered his revolver, before reaching into the trunk. He started going through their stuff and gave the woman inside a quick look, "Easy does it, senorita. Everything's gonna be fine."

Daryl looked at the people that he and his brother had just saved before pressing his crossbow against's Merle's back, "Get out of the car."

Merle stopped what he was doing and looked over his shoulder at Daryl, "I know you're not talking to me, brother."

"Get in your car and get the hell out of here." Daryl glanced at the two mexican men, "Go! Get in your car!"

The two men did as they were told to and quickly got themselves into their car. One of them started up the vehicle as Merle closed the trunk and turned his gaze towards his brother who still had his crossbow aimed at him. The two brothers glared at each other as the family drove off out of their sight. Daryl lowered his crossbow and started walking towards the forest as his brother quickly followed him.

Merle was clearly displeased by what his brother had just done and he wasn't hesitant to voice his thoughts when they entered the forest again, "The shit you doing, pointing that thing at me?"

"They were scared, man." Daryl pointed out.

"They were rude is what they were." Merle pointed out in return, "Rude and they owed us a token of gratitude."

"They didn't owe us nothing." Daryl argued with him.

"You helping people out of the goodness of your heart?" Merle demanded to know, "Even though you might die doing it? Is that something your Sheriff Rick taught you?"

Daryl stopped walking and turned around to glare at his brother, "There was a baby!"

"Oh, otherwise you would have just left them to the biters, then?" Merle argued, returning Daryl's glare.

"Man, I went back for you. You weren't there!" Daryl snapped, "I didn't cut off your hand, neither. You did that. Way before they locked you up on that roof. You asked for it!"

Merle shook his head with a bittersweet laugh, "You know what's funny to me? You and Sheriff Rick are like this now. Right? I bet you a penny and a fiddle of gold that you never told him that we were planning on robbing that camp blind."

"It didn't happen." Daryl pointed out.

Merle crossed his arms, "Yeah, it didn't 'cause I wasn't there to help you."

"What, like when we were kids, huh?" Daryl wanted to know as he leaned a bit closer towards his brother, his glare not leaving his facial features, "Who left who then?"

"What?!" Merle snapped, "Is that why I lost my hand!?"

"You lost your hand 'cause you're a simpleminded piece of shit." Daryl shouted in response as he turned away from his brother and started walking away from him.

"Yeah. You don't know!..." Merle shouted as he grabbed Daryl's shirt and accidently ripped it off his back, revealing nasty scars all over it. Merle stopped what he was doing and set his gaze on the scars on his brothers back, "I didn't know he was..."

"Yeah, he did." Daryl cut him off, "He did the same to you. That's why you left first."

"I had to man. I would have killed him otherwise." Merle told him as Daryl started walking away from him, "Where are you going?"

Daryl stopped and turned around to look at him, "Back where I belong."

"I can't go with you." Merle told him, "I tried to kill that black bitch. Damn near killed, the goth, the sarcastic prick and that Chinese kid."

"He's Korean." Daryl corrected him.

"Whatever!" Merle shook his head, "Doesn't matter, man. I just can't go with you."

Daryl sighed, "You know, I may be the one walking away... but you're the one that's leaving, again."

* * *

Chef walked out of the cellblock, and the first thing he saw after coming outside was Glenn driving away. He adjusted his M16 which was over his shoulder and walked over to Hershel who was staring at someone in front of the fence, passing by, Noah and Cody who were in the middle of a game of chess with Eva, Izzy and Ezekiel watching them play. The game was definitely going to be a long one because both of them were skilled in this area and both of them only lost a few pieces at this point, even though they were playing for a while now.

"This is what is making this guy go crazy?" Eva asked as Ezekiel and Izzy were in the middle of a coversation about Rick's yesterday's behaviour, with their gazes set on Cody's and Noah's chess game.

Izzy nodded, " I think so."

"Eh, you should have seen how he reacted when he found out that she died." Ezekiel added.

"What was his wife like?" Eva asked them another question. She wanted to know at least a bit about the people with who she was going to be staying from now on.

"Lori?" Noah asked Eva who nodded her head in confirmation, "She was a bitch."

Cody who was about to move one of his chess pieces forward turned his away from the chess set and looked at the bookworm, "Noah..."

"What?" Noah asked, "She may have died but it doesn't change what I think about her."

"What did she do?" Eva asked Noah as Cody moved his chess piece forward, like he had intended a few seconds earlier.

Noah eyed the position where Cody placed his chess piece before continuing, "Find another pregnant woman who goes to look after her husband all by herself, without informing anyone where she is going, crashes her car in the middle of the road and later calls people who found her, those people being me, Izzy an Ezekiel bastards because we lied to her so we could convice her to come with us."

Eva shook her head, "No wonder you didn't like her. I would too."

"There's one good thing I can say about her, though." Noah stated, as he placed his hand on his chin, trying to figure out his next move, "But I'm sure you all know what I mean by that."

Chef approached Hershel who started making way towards the gate, "Where are you going?"

Hershel looked ahead of himself and Chef followed his gaze and saw Rick outside of the fences, walking back and forth, "To talk with him."

"I'll go with you." Chef told him as Hershel nodded his head to that.

They walked through the opened gate and started heading towards the leader of their group. It took them some time to get there, mostly because of Hershel having to use crutches to move around, but eventully, Chef and Hershel found themselves standing in front of the fence, staring at Rick who remained on the other side, not even noticing their presence.

"Soldier! Rick! Rick!" The co-host of Total Drama called out to the sheriff deputy as Rick stopped looking around himself and looked at them, "We need to talk with you."

Rick looked at Chef and Hershel and slowly started to approach them as the farmer added, "You know I wouldn't have hobbled all the way down here if it wasn't important. Are you coming back soon? Glenn's on a warpath. He is reckless."

"These people need you, Rick." Chef added, "More than ever."

"If you two are so worried about him." Rick began, "Either of you lead."

"What are you doing out here, anyway." Chef wanted to know, "We haven't seen you since early morning."

"I've...I've been..." Rick struggled to find the answer, "I've got... stuff out here."

"Stuff." Hershel nodded, "How much longer do you need?"

Rick shook his head, "I don't know."

"Is there anything I or Chef can you help with?" Hershel asked him.

"...I saw something." Rick declared, "I'm seeing Lori. Look, I know it's not really her. But there's got to be a reason. It's got to mean something, you know."

"Was it her on the phone?" Hershel asked him as Chef looked at the farmer in confusion. What phone?

"Yeah." Rick confirmed with a nod of his head, "Shane too. At the town. Oscar would be dead if it wasn't for Izzy."

"Did you see them, now?" Hershel asked Rick another question, to which the sheriff deputy shook his head, "I don't know. Something. There's an answer. I know it doesn't make sense. Well, it does. It can make sense. I mean, I think in time it will make sense."

Chef looked at him in concern, "Rick. Come on in. You need rest. It's not safe out here."

"I can't." Rick shook his head, turning away from them, beginning to walk away, "...I can't."

None of them had idea that they were being watched by Michonne. She was approached by Alejandro, Heather and Oscar who looked in the direction she was looking at and saw their leader walking away from Chef and Hershel.

In the yard, Noah and Cody continued their game with Izzy, Ezekiel and Eva watching them, Beth and Carl chatted with each other, Bridgette and DJ were taking care of Judith in the cellblok, and Axel approached Carol and Duncan, patting the short haired woman on the back.

"Hey." He greeted her and Duncan, to which Carol smiled, "Stress getting to your man Rick?"

"Can you blame him?" Carol asked him.

"No. Not at all." Axel shook his head, "In here I've seen plenty of dudes crack. But not me. I got on better on the inside. Things made more sense, you know? There were rules. Life was more simple."

"Funny." Duncan stated, "This was the reason why I tried to break out of the juvie."

Axel laughed, "For real?"

"Yeah. It was before I joined Total Drama." Duncan nodded in confirmation, "I was about to break out with three pals from the juvie of mine, Chad, Freddie and... Timothy. They didn't made it time to the place where we agreed to met so I had to escape all by myself, almost succeding."

"Have you seen them?" Axel asked him, "Those pals of yours since the dead started walking?"

Duncan was silent for a few seconds before responding, his encounter with Timothy going back to his mind, "No. I haven't. I haven't seen anyone from the juvie since this shit begun. I'm not looking forward to seeing most of them, anyway. Mal, especially."

"Mal?" Axel asked him another question, wanting to be sure if he didn't misheard it, "Sounds like a weird name to me."

"He'd break your teeth if he heard you say that." Duncan stated, "This guy was just something else. He'd get along with Tomas and Andrew pretty well."

"Damn." Axel shook his head, "I hope he's not out there, then."

Duncan nodded in agreement, "You and me both."

"Do you ever miss your brother?" Carol asked Axel.

"Hell, no." Axel shook his head at her question, "He had a real money problem."

"What kind of problem?" Carol wanted to know.

"He didn't lend any." Axel explained as he, Carol and Duncan laughed at his response, "One time that son of a bitch..."

It was when a shot rang completely out of nowhere and blood splattered all over Carol's face as Axel was shot right in the brain, killing him immediately. The former prisoner fell down like a ton of bricks right on top of Carol, bringing her down to the ground. Duncan's eyes snapped open in complete shock as he quickly ducked down and started making way to the nearest cover, to avoid getting shot as well.

Carl and Beth quickly got down as Noah and Cody quickly finished their game of chess and hid under a bleacher, which was followed by Izzy, Ezekiel and Eva getting down too. Rick quickly looked in the direction from which the shot came from as Michonne, Alejandro, Heather and Oscar all hid behind a rolled over prison bus. The dark skinned woman took a peek out of her cover and saw the Governor standing in front of the fence.

"It's him?" Alejandro wanted to know if it was the Governor to which Michonne in confirmation, "Is Jose with him?"

"Don't know." Michonne answered as she took a quick peek again and saw Jose, Shumpert and some other guy she hasn't seen before standing along with the Governor. This guy was Terry. Someone that Jose had picked for this earlier that day, "He's with him."

Alejandro readied his scoped machine rifle, "Mierda."

Rick's eyes snapped open when someone started firing at his positon. He quickly pushed himself into a run along the bridge under the creek as Martinez was firing at him from his position in the woods. The sheriff deputy leaped himself forward, jumping into safety as Hershel and Chef hid themselves in the grass, with the latter readying his M16.

The Governor proceeded to fire his AUG at Axel's lifeless corpse as Carol was using it as some sort of shield, protecting herself from any bullets fired at her by him. Duncan cursed himself mentally as he pulled out his Smith & Wesson, regretting leaving his machine rifle in his cell as he hid himself in the same spot as Izzy, Ezekiel, Eva, Noah and Cody did.

Izzy pulled out her pistol as looked in Carl's direction and saw him firing at one of the towers. She looked at the tower that Carl was firing at and saw one of the Governor's men standing on top of it, "There's one at the tower!"

"How did he get there?" Ezekiel asked.

"Not the time for this question, Zeke!" Cody pointed out, in a very nervous tone.

Michonne and Alejandro leaned out of their cover behind the prison bus and started returning fire as Jose and Terry switched their attention from the yard and looked at them. Jose aimed his M4A1 at their positon and started firing at them as Terry looked through the scope of his L1A1 SLR and returned fire as well. Heather and Oscar used the fact that Jose and Terry had their attention focused on Alejandro and Michonne and quickly made their way to the other side of the rolled over prison bus.

Oscar cocked his shotgun and leaned out of his cover, firing two rounds from it, as Heather readied her gun to do the same, but never had a chance to do as Terry quickly found their position and shifted his attention towards them, causing Oscar to hid back in his cover, leaving Jose to deal with Michonne and Alejandro.

Hershel crawled through the ground to safety as Chef stayed behind, intending to cover the farmer and give him as much time as he needed to get to safety. He placed his M16 on the ground and made sure that it was aimed at Martinez. He glared at him and pulled the trigger of his gun. His M16 fired, causing Martinez to back away a bit as Chef's bullets started hiting the trees and ground around him while Rick placed his M4A1 on the bridge and looked through the scope, assisting Chef in fighting Martinez off.

"Cover me!" Eva shouted to Izzy and Duncan, pulling out her own handgun, "I'll take care of the guy on the tower."

Duncan and Izzy nodded their heads and quickly leaned out of the covers, aiding Carl in fighting off the guy on the tower. Eva used this moment to leap herself out of her cover and to get herself closer to him. The guy on the tower focused his entire attention on Carl, Beth, Duncan and Izzy and didn't spot Eva coming closer to him. The jockeness she hid herself behind a wall, waiting for the right moment to take this guy down.

"Guys!" Maggie and DJ cried out at the same time as they ran out of the cellbock, carrying as many guns at they could. Bridgette stayed behind in the cellbock to take make sure that Judith was safe during all of this, "Take this!"

They didn't had to repeat themselves as everyone quickly reacted to their words. Duncan quickly took his machine rifle from Maggie as Izzy did the same with her shotgun. Noah, Ezekiel and Cody got themselves a pistol from DJ and got themselves ready to use this at any second. The brickhouse hid under the bleacher along with them, clutching his own pistol.

"Carol!" Duncan shouted to the short haired woman, instantly getting his machine rifle to use as he fired at the man at the tower, "Go! Now!"

Carol instantly did as the juvie told her to. She jumped back into her feet and started running over to them as Maggie, Duncan, Izzy and Carl provided her some cover fire. The guy on the tower proceeded to fire at them didn't spot Eva leaning out of her cover, with only one intention of killing him. The Iron Woman aimed her handgun at him and fired, hitting him right in the head. His body fell down, his lifeless eyes staring up at the sky.

She went back to her cover and send a quick nod towards Duncan and Izzy. They nodded back. More time passed and the two sides proceeded to exchange more bullets between each other. All of it suddenly stopped when they heard someone driving towards the prison. Rick's group stopped in confusion, having no idea whowas coming as the Governor's group stopped because they knew who was coming here and just waited for it to arrive.

Rick's group quickly got their answer to who it was when a truck came drove right through the main gate of the prison, bursting it open, causing the Governor to grin at the sight. The truck stopped right in the middle of the field. It was only a few seconds before the walkers started to depart from the back of the truck, beginning to walk around the field.

Chef's gaze quickly spotted the undead as he shifted his attention towards them, completely forgetting about Martinez. He quickly made his way to Hershel, to protect the eldery man from the undead while Rick aimed his M4A1 at the walkers heading towards Chef and Hershel. The sheriff deputy was about to fire at them, but his gun didn't fire a single bullet when he pulled the trigger because it ran out of the ammo, which was something he failed to notice until now. He quickly had to duck under the small wooden bridge as Martinez started firing at him, once again.

The two people that made sure that the truck filled with the undead was going to find itself here got out of their vehicle, both of them wearing heavy gear to avoid getting shot by anyone from Rick's group. They started running across the field towards the now opened gate as Michonne, Alejandro, Heather and Oscar tried to stop them, but in the end had to duck as the two men fired their Uzi's at them. The two men ran past them to safety, without even receiving a single wound from Rick's group.

The Governor watched how the walkers circled around the field before turning around when he heard some growling behind him. He turned around and saw a single walker heading towards him. The noise must have led it here. He fired his AUG at the undead, killing it. Philip smiled. Everything was going exactly as he planned.

Chef quickly reloaded his M16 and opened fire at the walkers which were heading towards him and Hershel as Rick pulled out his Python, no longer having ammo to his M4A1. He took a quick peek out of his cover to see that Martinez was gone. He turned his gaze away from that spot when he heard some grunting and growling behind him, to see a huge group of the undead heading his way.

The Governor opened the doors to the white pickup truck where Jose, Terry and Shumpert were already waiting for him and took a quick glance at the prison. He pulled the trigger of his AUG and moved his gun around, firing the bullets in the random directions until it ran out of the ammo. He lowered his AUG before getting himself into the truck.

Rick let out a deep breath as he started running away from the walkers which were led here by the sound of a gunfight between the two groups as the Governor started up the engine and started driving away from the prison along with his men, driving past Glenn who had just arrived back at the prison. The asian man stopped his vehicle and started at what happened when he was gone in shock before speeding through the destroyed gate.

Carl, Duncan, Izzy, Ezekiel, Noah, DJ, Beth, Carol, Maggie, Eva and Cody all made their way to the gate and opened it. Each one of them aimed their guns at the walkers on the field and opened fire, intending to get rid of the undead as fast as possible as Michonne, Oscar, Alejandro and Heather got themselves on their feet. Michonne unsheathed her katana and charged towards the undead along with Alejandro who had his tomahawk out in ready as Oscar and Heather didn't waste any second and started shooting at the walkers.

It was when Chris, Geoff, Trent, Harold, Leshawna and Gwen who for all this time were taking care of the problem of the breach rushed out of the cellblock, alarmed by the sound of a gunfight. They weren't the only ones. Bridgette came out shorty after them, intending to assist her group, knowing that Judith was safe inside of her cell.

"What the hell happened here?" Gwen asked as she stopped between Cody and Noah, even though the answer seemed quite obvious to her.

"It's the Governor." Noah explained, "Bastard attacked us, and killed Axel."

Chef stopped firing his M16 and lowered his gun as Glenn stopped the car next to him and Hershel. The asian man got himself out of the vehicle and rushed over to Hershel, wrapping his arms around him, intending to take the crippled eldery man away from the undead. Chef wrapped his arm around Hershel's other shoulder and helped to bring him into the car. With Hershel safe inside of the car, Glenn and Chef got themselves into the car and drove off before the walkers could get closer to any of them.

Rick screamed as a walker lunged for him. The walker pressed the sheriff deputy against the fence who tried to push it off himself, but things only got worse when another walker came and pressed itself against the walker that Rick was trying to push away. His eyes widened when an arrow landed right in the undead's forehead, killing it off.

Daryl and Merle had arrived just in time. Merle screamed as he charged towards another walker which Rick was having trouble with and stabbed it right through it's head with a metal rod, freeing Rick from the undead's grasp. Rick let out a deep breath as he looked at Daryl and send him a quick nod. Daryl nodded his head in return before Rick turned his gaze towards Merle who had a small grin on his face.

Rick and the Dixon brothers came over to the fence, and looked at the walker filled field in front of them, observing the damage done by the Governor's attack as more and more walkers started to enter the fields through the destroyed gate.


	30. I Ain't a Judas

Things were bad in the prison to say the least. Things were already tense between everyone in the group after everything that had happened in the recent days, but everything just got much worse after the Governor and his men attacked their home, which resulted in the death of Axel. The entire group was saddened by his death. They liked Axel. He may have sometimes come off as unstable back when they found him in the cafeteria, but he was a good man. They wished they could burry his body in the place where the other fallen members of their group were burried in the field, but the walkers were preventing them from doing so.

There was one person in their group that Axel's death shook the most. This person was his fellow prisoner Oscar. The day after the attack when the group was saying their goodbyes to Axel, his fellow prisoner wasn't hesitant to voice what he thought about his now dead friend.

" _Back when we were locked up in the cafeteria, Axel always had my back. When I and Tomas started getting into each other throats, Axel along with Big Tiny always tried to calm us down, telling us that we shouldn't be at each other throats, considering our situation, that we should wait for the help, but it never came,_ _until you guys showed up."_

Right after saying their farewells to Axel, the entire group made their way back to the cellblock where they were going to discuss what they should do next and Hershel wasn't afraid to voice his thoughts.

"We can's stay here!" The farmer yelled out to Rick.

"We go out there and what?" Gwen asked Hershel, disagreeing with the farmer's idea, "We don't really have a place to go."

"What if they attack us again by suprise?" Cody spoke up, feeling conflicted about this entire argument, having no idea if they should leave or not, "We're lucky that more of us didn't die."

"We can't even go outside." Carol stated, "Not in the daylight."

Glenn crossed his arms, "If Rick said we're not leaving, then we're not leaving."

It was when everyone turned in the direction of the gate to see Merle who was locked up on the other side of it right after the attack, "No, better to live like rats."

"You got a better idea?" Rick asked him.

"Yeah." Merle nodded, "Yeah, we should have slid out of here last night and lived to fight another day. But we lost that window, didn't we? I'm sure he's got scouts on every road out of this place by now."

"We ain't scared of that prick." Eva told the older Dixon, crossing her arms.

"Y'all should be." Merle told the jockeness in response, "That truck through the fence thing, that's just him ringing the doorbell. We might have some thick walls to hide behind, but he's got the guns and the numbers. And if he takes the high ground around this place, shoot, he could just starve us out if he wanted to."

Maggie looked at Rick, "Can't we just put him in other cellblock?"

"No." Rick shook his head, "He's got a point."

"This is all your fault, Merle." Bridgette glared at Merle, "If you didn't took Glenn, Maggie, Noah and Gwen then all of it would never happen!"

"It doesn't matter who started it, right now." Harold sighed, "What happened, already happened and we can't undo this."

Leshawna shook her head, glaring at Merle, "Unfortunely."

"What do we do now?" Beth asked.

"I said we should leave." Hershel repeated his previous suggestion, "Now Axel's dead. We can't just sit here."

"Eh, this entire situation is such a mess." Ezekiel sighed as Rick remained silent and turned away from his group, starting to head towards the exit from the cellblock.

"Get back here!" The farmer shouted, rising up from his sitting position, causing Rick to stop walking and to turn to look at him, "You're slipping, Rick. We've all seen it. We understand why. But now is not the time. You once said this isn't a democracy. Now you have to own up to that. I put my family's life in your hands. So get your head clear and do something."

Rick, once again, remained silent. He just send each member of his group a quick look before walking out of the cellblock, without saying a single word to them. Several minutes later, he was watching the yard from the catwalk when his son made his way over to him, stopping next to his father, "Hey, Dad?"

The sheriff deputy turned his gaze towards his son, "Yeah?"

"If I say something, will you promise not to be mad?" Carl wanted to know.

"I won't get mad." He assured his son.

"You should stop." Carl told him.

Rick titled his head, not knowing what his son was telling him by that, "Stop what?

"Being the leader." His son explained what he meant, "Let Hershel, Chef and Daryl handle things. You deserve a rest."

* * *

The Governor paced back and forth across his apartament as Jose leaned against the wall, placing his right boot against it while Milton sat by the table in the middle of the apartament, checking how many people from their community would be able to fight just in case if Rick and his group striked back.

"How many does that give us now?" The Governor asked, coming closer to Milton.

"Twenty." Milton answered, looking up from his list, "We have several people with chronic conditions, hearing impairments, arthritis. Adding those gives us 26."

"And if we include men and women age 13 and up?" Philip wanted to know.

"You mean boys and girls?" Milton asked in return, wanting to be sure.

"Adolescence." Philip began, "It's a 20th century invention."

"There's, uh..." Milton paused for a moment as he went through his list again to make sure he was going to get everything right, "...35."

"We'll make sure they all have sidearms and plenty of ammo." Jose spoke up, "I and Martinez will start training when he is ready."

Everyone's attention was turned towards the exit from the aparament as it was opened and Andrea walked in, followed by Courtney, with the CIT asking, "What's this we hear about the prison?"

Andrea shut the doors behind her and crossed her arms, "You said you were gonna leave it alone. No retaliation."

"I went to negotiate." The Governor began, "Bad enough we got biters at our gates. We can't have aggressors just miles away."

"So you went and welcomed them to the neighborhood?" Andrea asked him.

"You know they shot at us? Jose is lucky to be still alive. A bullet flied right next to his skull." The Governor lied as Andrea and Courtney turned to look at Jose who gave them a nod of confirmation after a second, going along with the Governor's lie, "I don't know who these people were when you were with them, but they've changed. They're bloodthirsty."

Courtney turned her gaze towards Milton, "You knew about this?"

Milton looked up at her, "I was informed this morning. I didn't know."

"Why are you here?" Jose asked the lawyer and the CIT, "Is there any other reason why you came here to talk with us?"

"We're going to see them." Courtney declared, "To see if we can work this out."

"Well, they're hostile." The Governor said, pointing at the list Milton was carrying, "Milton here is carrying a list of the able-bodied people we have. They're gonna carry arms and receive training. We won't get caught sleeping again."

"One car." Andrea told him, "This is all we need."

"The roads are blocked." Jose explained as the Governor came closer to Andrea and Courtney, "We barely made it back ourselves."

"If you go to this prison..." He told them, causing Andrea and Courtney look at him, "You stay there."

* * *

The entire group turned their gaze towards the gate when Rick entered the cellblock, again. He took his M4A1 off his back and turned his gaze towards the two people which happened to be Maggie and Geoff, "Take watch. Eyes open, head down." The older Greene and the party animal nodded their heads, understanding what they should do now and started heading towards Chef who was going to give them everything they needed as Rick looked around himself, eyeing his group, "Field's filled with walkers. I didn't see any snipers out there, but we'll keep people on watch."

"I'll take someone with me and get up in the guard tower, take out half them walkers." Chris suggested, already reaching out to take his rile off his back, "Give you guys a chance to fix the fence."

Michonne shrugged, deciding to suggest an idea as well, "We can always use some of the cars to put the bus in place."

"Either way we can't access the field without burning through our bullets." Trent shook his head with a sigh, seeing how everything was starting to go down in the place in which he just started to live in. At least wasn't going to sleep thinking if his friends are still alive or not anymore.

"So, we're trapped here." DJ sighed.

"We barely have any food or ammo." Glenn shook his head.

"And the fact that there is a certain someone with us is not helping either." Noah added to which Glenn and Gwen nodded in agreement.

Daryl rolled his eyes, "Man, we gonna go through this again? Look, Merle's staying here. He's with us now. Get used to it."

"I'm simply pointing out that we already are low on food." Noah told the younger Dixon who glared at him, Gwen and Glenn, "And that wasting it on your brother will be a huge waste."

Glenn leaned towards Rick, "Seriously, Rick, I don't think Merle living here is really gonna fly."

"I can't kick him out." Rick shook his head.

"None of us would ask you to live with Shane after what he tried to do to you on the farm." Gwen pointed out, to which Glenn and Noah nodded in agreement. A lot of their group wasn't fond of the idea of Merle Dixon staying with them, but she along with the asian man and the bookworm were the ones that had the most problem with that, and none could blame them for that, after everything that Merle did to them in Woodbury.

"Merle has military experience." Chef pointed out, coming over to the group to join their conversation, "We can use his skills against the Governor, because I don't think he'll be going back to him after what happened in Woodbury."

"Merle can be many things, but don't underestimate his loyalty to his brother." Hershel added.

* * *

Merle sat on the bed, wrapping a tape around the blade on his prosthetic hand. His former blade was lost back in Woodbury when the Governor declared him a traitor. Without taking his eyes off his hand, he spotted a man heading towards him on two crutches.

"You're the farmer, Hershel." He told Hershel as the farmer stopped in front of him.

"And you're the black sheep, Merle." Hershel told him in return.

The older Dixon glanced at his missing leg, "How did you lose it?"

"I was bit." Hershel explained.

"Bit?" Merle asked him, "You hack it off yourself?"

"No." Hershel answered, "Rick did."

"Awful kindly of him." Merle stated as Hershel sat down on the chair next to him.

"Saved my life." Hershel told him, "Gave me more time with my girls. Gave you more time with your brother. Can't put a price on that."

"Can't put a price on anything anymore." Merle shrugged as Hershel nodded his head to that. He reached into his pocket and pulled out something that always comforted him in some way, despise of how bad the situation was, his bible which he found in one of the cells.

"Found this, in one of the cells. Lost more than the Good Book there for a while. Lost my way." He explained, showing his bible to Merle, "And if your right hand offends you, cut it off, cast it from you. For it is profitable that one of your members should perish..."

"And not that thy whole body should be cast into hell." Matthew 5:29 and 30." Merle cut Hershel off as Hershel gave him a small smile, not excepting him to be a believer. The older Dixon turned his gaze away from his hand towards Hershel, "Woodbury had a damn fine library. One of the only things I miss about it. When the Governor returns, he's gonna kill me first. Michonne, my brother, the two celebrities with their little contestants, then your girls. Glenn, Carl, the baby, whoever else is left. He'll save Rick for last so he can watch his family and friends die ugly. That's who you're dealing with."

* * *

Andrea and Courtney were walking across Woodbury for about several minutes now, looking for a certain person. They spotted the people they've been looking for standing in front of the main gate.

They approached this person. Milton turned his gaze away from the gate and told them, "We sealed it thoroughly. Nobody's getting in or out."

"We're gonna ask you something and we need you to be honest." Andrea told him.

Milton nodded in understanding, "Okay."

"The fight at the prison, you swear you didn't know anything about it?" Andrea asked him.

"I wouldn't advocate a move like that." Milton shook his head, "It's just posturing."

"Good." Courtney nodded, "Then you have to cover for me. I'm going to the prison. And the Governor can't know."

"Don't..." Milton tried to say, but was quickly cut off.

"We have to, Milton." Courtney interrupted him, "We were with them."

"Don't put me in this situation." Milton told them.

"We wish there was another way." Andrea told him in return to which the CIT nodded in agreement, "That's a chance we have to take."

"Maybe you do, but I don't." Milton shook his head, "I'm sorry. I can't."

"Look at what's happened." Courtney gestured towards their surroundings, "Woodbury is an armed camp with child soldiers. Cannon fodder in a war over what? Is that what all your work is for?"

"What we're trying to do is an attempt to stop this before more people get killed." Andrea added, "You can do this, Milton. Let us talk with our friends."

* * *

Milton still had seconds thoughts about doing this entire thing, but the Governor did asked him to keep tabs on Andrea and Courtney, plus if there was a way to avoid more deaths, then they had to at least give it a shot. He put his jacket which was protecting him from getting bitten by the undead on himself and left the gates of Woodbury along with the lawyer and the CIT. All three of them hid behind some trees when they spotted two walkers heading their way.

The glasses wearing man came out of his hiding and called out to the undead, "Hey, you two!"

The two walkers he cried out two turned their attention towards him, snarling. They moved towards him, but never reached him as Andrea and Courtney came out of their hiding, and pinned the undead against the ground. They started chopping off their arms with the hatchets they took before leaving Woodbury, intending to use the same tactic Michonne was using since she saved them after the farm.

After they got rid of the bottom jaws of the walkers, the undead they picked for this mission were ready. They looked up and saw more undead heading towards them, which was followed by Milton saying, "Can we finish this up, please?"

He quickly handed each of them a holding stick and Andrea and Courtney didn't waste any second and wrapped it around the undead's neck, before lifting both of the walkers up from the ground. The CIT and the lawyer held the undead in front of them and Milton, hoping that the undead will walk past them, as someone came out of the forest. Tyreese placed his hammer on the head of one of the undead as Sasha, Allen and Ben came out shorty after.

The entire group stopped where they stood when they saw the image in front of them, staring at it with disgust mixed with confusion as Andrea, Courtney and Milton stared at them, without saying a word.

"...It's a diversionary tactic." Milton finally broke the silence, "It keeps the walkers away."

"Didn't work so well with those two." Sasha stated.

"You got a camp?" Allen asked them.

Andrea exchanged a look with Milton and Courtney before answering, "...We have a town. It's walled."

"There's about 70 of us." Courtney added, not seeing point in lying to these people.

"You take people in?" Tyreese asked, in a hopeful tone.

"We do." Milton nodded his head in confirmation as he turned to look at Andrea and Courtney, "I'll take them back."

"You sure?" Courtney asked him, wanting to be sure.

"Don't worry about me. I'll handle it." Milton assured them, "I'm better with him than I am with them."

"Thank you so much." Sasha thanked them in a very grateful tone, "We've had a rough couple of days."

Andrea and Courtney started heading in the direction of the prison, making sure to keep a firm grip on their holding sticks as Tyreese asked them, confused, "Where are you going?"

"We have to finish our run." Andrea explained.

"Only two of us?" Allen asked them.

"Don't worry about us." Courtney assured them, "I and my friend here can handle ourselves and we got our guardian angels here."

* * *

Michonne was doing some push-ups in the cellblock as Carol and DJ were preparing some food for their group when they heard someone enter the cellblock. The dark skinned woman ignored it and continued her doing her push-ups as the brickhouse and the short haired woman turned their gaze away from their work and looked at the older Dixon who stared down at Michonne.

"Smart to stay fit." He told her as Michonne stopped doing the push-ups and started doing crunches, not even looking up at the older Dixon, "Don't leave out the cardio. You know, if we're gonna live under the same roof, we should clear the air. This whole hunting you down thing, that was just business. Carrying out orders."

"Hmm." Michonne said in acknowledgement, "Like the Gestapo."

"Yeah, exactly." Merle nodded his head as Carol and DJ went back to preparing food for their group, "I've done a lot of things I ain't proud of. Before and after. Anyway, hope we can get past it. Let bygones be bygones."

He turned away from Michonne and started walking away from her, Carol and DJ. The dark skinned woman stopped her exercises and turned her gaze towards Merle, glaring at the older Dixon as he walked away from her.

* * *

Geoff looked through the binoculars which were given to him Chef right before he and Maggie left the cellblock as he stood in front of the fence, watching over the prison and it's surroundings. He didn't mind Maggie's company. Bridgette and DJ were good friends with the older Greene and they hit it off pretty quickly because of that.

A lot of time of standing on the watch had to pass before something caught his attention when he eyed the forest through the binoculars. It was just some leaves rustling, so at first he thought that the air was just moving them, but he quickly found himself to be wrong when two women came out of the woods, holding two walkers in front of them as some sort of defensive shield.

"Courtney?" He asked himself, as he recognized one of the women as the CIT, earning Maggie's attention. He held the binoculars out to her, "Take a look at this."

Maggie took the binoculars from him and saw Andrea and Courtney heading towards the gate, keeping two walkers on the holding sticks in front of them. She lowered the binoculars in shock, "Andrea, Courtney."

"Should I go and get the others?" Geoff asked her to which Maggie nodded.

Geoff nodded in understanding and quickly ran off to get the others as Maggie looked through the binoculars again and observed how Andrea and Courtney walked through the walker infested yard, holding a melee weapon in their other hands at ready just in case if the undead didn't bought their trick and didn't recognize them as one of their own.

Her attention was taken away from the lawyer and the CIT when the doors of the cellblock was opened and the group consisting of Rick, Daryl, Chef, Chris, Duncan, Izzy, Alejandro, Oscar, Geoff, Michonne, Harold and Merle came out of it. The group started slowly making their way towards the gate, as Trent, Glenn, Gwen and Eva appeared on the catwalk, watching over the entire thing from the above.

Chris looked through the scope of his rifle at the forest and nodded his head, seeing that it was just Andrea and Courtney, "Clear!"

"Are you alone?" Izzy asked, running over to the gate,

"Open it!" Andrea cried out to them.

"We don't know if we can fool them for any longer!" Courtney yelled out, looking over her shoulder at the approaching undead.

Rick threw the keys over to Oscar who caught it in the mid-air. The former prisoner quickly opened the gate as Andrea and Courtney released their walkers from the grasp of the holding stick, before kicking the undead in the direction of the other walkers. Andrea quickly entered the other, safe side of the fence, as Oscar quickly locked the gate again.

Michonne lowered her gun at the sight of the two people with which she spend the last months with as Rick pinned Andrea against the fence, Chef doing the same with Courtney, checking them because better safe than sorry, right?

"Izzy asked you if you two are alone." Rick asked them.

Andrea nodded her head in confirmation, "We are."

"Welcome back." Rick told them, freeing Andrea from his grasp.

Chef saw it and did the same with Courtney, "I apologize for this, soldier, but we need to be cautious."

Courtney didn't respond to his words as she was busy staring at Geoff who stood between Alejandro and Harold in suprise, realizing that her group must have found him and the rest sometime after she and Andrea got separated from them. Her eyes also spotted Trent and Eva watching everything from the catwalk. All of them started heading back to the cellblock right after.

Duncan came over to Courtney, walking now by her side and smiled at her, "Hey there beautiful."

Courtney looked at the juvie and returned his smile, "Hey, Duncan."

* * *

"Where's Shane?" Andrea asked as she and Courtney were taken straight to the cellblock, when no one answered her, she got the idea of what happened to him, "Tyler?"

"He died back when we were escaping from the farm." DJ explained.

"He saved my life." Heather added, "Those things would get me if it wasn't for him. He stayed behind to keep them away from me, but they ended up surrounding him and one of them bit him into his shoulder. He told us to go."

Andrea sighed at the news of what happened to Tyler. At least her friend went out saving someone from sharing the same fate as Lindsay. Courtney then asked, "What about Owen?"

Izzy and Noah sighed at Courtney's question as Chris answered,"We lost him on the farm too."

"Lori?" Courtney asked another question, noticing that she was gone too.

"She had a girl." Hershel told her, "She didn't make it."

"Neither did Sierra and T-Dog." Maggie added.

"It was a tough day for our group." Leshawna added her part as well, letting out a sad sigh as the memories of that day flew through her mind.

"I'm so sorry, Rick." Andrea spoke to Rick, turning her attention towards him. The sheriff deputy looked away and took a step back, "You all live here?"

"No. We just decided to stay for the night in this his large place with fences, so much space to move around and with soil that allows us to grow food." Noah answered, staring at Andrea as if she just asked the most obvious question in history.

"Here and in the cellblock." Glenn said quickly, trying to cover Noah's sarcasm.

"There?" Andrea asked, beginning to make her way to the cellblock with Courtney, "Can we go in?"

Rick stopped them from going any further, "I won't allow that."

"We're not your enemies, Rick." Courtney assured the sheriff deputy.

Eva scoffed, "Say that to your friend."

"We had that field and courtyard until he tore down the fence with a truck and shot us up." Rick explained.

"He said you fired first." Andrea pointed out.

"Right." Noah rolled his eyes, "Because psychopaths are so reliable and trustworthy."

"He killed an inmate who survived in here." Harold told them as Andrea burried her hands in her face while Courtney sighed and shook her head, "We liked him."

"He was my friend." Oscar spoke next, "We had each others backs here since the guard locked us up in the cafeteria when it all started. Your boy just shot him without a second thought."

"He was one of us." Daryl added.

"We didn't know anything about that." Andrea declared, removing her hands from her face, "As soon as we found out, we came."

Courtney looked at Glenn, Noah, Gwen and Maggie, "We didn't even know you were in Woodbury until after the shoot-out."

"That was days ago." Gwen told the CIT and the lawyer.

"I told you, we came as soon as we could." Andrea repeated herself. She turned around and looked at Michonne, "What have you told them?"

"Nothing." Michonne's answer was short and quick.

Andrea eyed her former group, "I don't get it. We left Atlanta with you people, and Courtney even knew a lot of you before all of this, and now we're the odd man out?"

"He almost killed Michonne and he would have killed us." Glenn pointed out.

Courtney pointed at Merle, "Isn't he the one who kidnapped you? Who beat you?"

"Look, I cannot excuse or explain what Philip has done." Andrea began, "But I am here trying to bring us together. We have to work this out."

"Everyone can dream." Alejandro shook his head at her words, "Even if it is complete bullshit."

"You have a brother there, Alejandro." Andrea told him, "Don't you..."

"Don't. It won't work."Alejandro cut her off, "I hate Jose. I hated him way before all of this. I'm sticking with people here."

"We're gonna kill him." Rick explained, "I don't know how or when, but we will."

Andrea shook her head, "Rick, we can settle this. There is room at Woodbury for all of you."

"Great." Noah exchanged a look with Glenn, "I'm surely excited at the thought of living in the same town with the guy who wanted to kill me."

"What makes you think this man wants to negotiate?" Chris asked them, "Did he say that?"

"No." Courtney shook her head, "We're here because he's gearing up for war. The people are terrified. They see you as killers. They're training to attack."

Izzy crossed her arms, "If he wants a war, then we'll give him one."

"The next time you see him, tell him I'll take his other eye." Daryl added.

"Get us inside, if you want to help us." Gwen declared, wanting the Governor to get exactly what he deserved for everything he has done, "If you do that, our group will make sure he'll be the only casualty of this war."

Andrea shook her head, "No."

"Then we got nothing to talk about." Rick said, turning away from the lawyer and the CIT.

Courtney pushed herself into walk after him, "Rick..."

Andrea was about to follow Courtney but both of them stopped in their tracks when Michonne stepped forward, stopping herself in front of them, "You probably don't know that but he sent Merle to kill me. Would have sent him to kill you, too, if you had come with me. But you didn't, did you? That's why I went back to Woodbury. I wanted to expose him for what he truly is."

* * *

Milton took Tyreese and his group straight to Woodbury right after he, Andrea and Courtney encountered them in the forest. After stepping through the gates of Woodbury, the group was instantly taken to the infirmary where Dr. Stevens was going to check on them.

The Governor entered the room, "Dr. Stevens will be here soon. We'll get you checked over."

"Thank you." Tyreese thanked him.

Philip nodded, "It's my pleasure. Now you're welcome to stay as long as you like. We got food, fresh clothing, hot water. Normally we'd provide you with weapons and a car for your journey, but we need all we have."

"Looks like you're battening down the hatches. Were you guys attacked?" Allen wanted to know.

"Yeah." The Governor nodded in confirmation, "Yeah, but not by biters. Some dangerous people out there. They came at us a few days ago."

"Anyone hurt?" Sasha asked him.

Philip gave her a nod of confirmation, "There were several fatalities."

"Damn." Tyreese sighed, "Sorry."

"Yeah. Can't be too careful these days." Philip nodded, "When you're ready to travel, head west. Avoid anything north up 85."

"We just came from there." Sasha explained.

"Ran into some whack-job in a prison." Allen added.

The Governor quickly made a mental note of that. These people were in the prison before. This was the opportunity he could not miss, "You saw him?"

Allen nodded in confirmation, "Oh, yeah. Screaming like an idiot. He's a little unhinged."

"You need help with these guys, we're in." Ben spoke up, firmly, not having second thoughts about his words.

Philip shook his head, "Well, now, no... we couldn't ask you to join in our fight."

"Guys." Sasha said as she came to a realization. She shook her head, "We left Trent, Geoff and Eva with them."

"Who?" Philip asked her.

He didn't had to wait long for the explanation, "They were with traveling with us, but we split up when they stayed at the prison because they knew some of the people from his group, Geoff was even in the relationship between them."

"We need to g..." Tyreese began, but was interrupted.

"You can speak for yourself, Ty." Allen cut him off as he crossed his arms with anger evident in his voice, "They left us to rot in the forest. They can die for all I care."

Sasha turned to look at Allen shook her head at him, "You again with this, Allen?"

Tyreese sighed, "Place yourself in their shoes, Allen. They found someone that they knew from before all of this, someone that they've been looking for since all of this started. Would you do the same if you were in their position and Ben was in their friends position?"

Allen scoffed, not wanting to answer Ty's question as Sasha turned back to the Governor, "Geoff, Trent and Eva are not bad people. We can convice them to join us if we'll tell them with what kind of people they're staying at the prison."

"I'll do my best to convice them with what kind of people they're sticking with if I'll get that a chance." The Governor assured them, doing his best to sound as genuine as he could, "What they will do after that is up to them."

Tyreese nodded his head at him, "Thank you."

"You were in prison before?" Milton who was silent for this entire conversation spoke up, pulling out his notebook and pen, "Can you describe the layout?"

"It's pretty confusing, but I could try." Tyreese answered.

The Governor smiled at newcomers in his community, knowing that these people will be useful in getting rid of Rick and his group for good, "You get your rest. We can talk about it tomorrow. As I say, you're welcome to stay here as long as you like."

* * *

Courtney and Duncan walked up the stairs to the upper level of the cellblock where Bridgette was taking care of Judith. The surfer set her gaze on the CIT and smiled, happy to see her friend after all this time, alive.

"You can't leave without meeting Little Ass-Kicker." She told her friend, her smile not leaving her lips.

Courtney returned her smile, "May I hold her?"

"Sure." Bridgette answered, handing Judith to Courtney, making sure to do it as carefully as she could.

"Let me guess." Courtney smiled down at the little child in her arms, "Daryl's the one who named her like that."

Duncan and Bridgette exchanged a look with each other before letting out chuckles, with the surfer explaining a second later, "That's not really her name. Her name is Judith."

"Judith." Courtney nodded in acknowledgement, her eyes not leaving the child in her arms, "Hi there, Judith. It's great to finally meet you."

Bridgette smiled, "She likes you."

Courtney chuckled as she looked up from Judith to look at the surfer and the juvie, "What happened to Lori?"

"During a C-section." Bridgette sighed, "Maggie and Leshawna."

Duncan let out a sigh as well, "Carl had to... you know"

"Oh my God..." Courtney shook her head, "What about T-Dog and Sierra?"

"T-Dog was bitten and died leading Carol to safety." Bridgette explained, glancing down, sadly.

"Sierra was killed by one of the inmates who survived in here." Duncan added.

"The prisoners?" Courtney asked them another question, "How many of them were here when you found this place?"

"Five." Duncan began, "You already know Oscar. Axel was the one who was killed by the Governor. I can't say much about Big Tiny because he died just as soon as we met him. Tomas was an asshole who was killed by Chris after he tried to kill him and Rick and Andrew was the one who killed Sierra. He wanted to re-take the prison from us."

"What happened to him?" Courtney wanted to know.

"Oscar killed him." Duncan replied, "That's when we realized that he and Axel were trustworthy."

Courtney nodded her head at his words, before setting her gaze down on Judith again. The CIT bit her lips. There was something she wanted talk with Duncan about for a long time and she finally got her chance to do so, but it might have been not the best time for it, considering everything that happened in the past few days. She thought about it for several more seconds before deciding to talk with him about, not knowing where she'll get the chance again.

"Bridgette." She called out for the surfer, "Can you take her? I want to talk with Duncan in private."

"Sure." Bridgette nodded her head as Courtney handed Judith to her, "I'll be on the lower level if you'll need me."

Courtney watched how the surfer walked down the stairs to the lower level, before shifting her attention towards Duncan who gave her a confused look, "What did you want to talk about, princess?"

"Do you know what has been on my mind for a while?" The CIT asked him in response to his question.

Duncan shook his head, placing his hands on the railing, "No."

"I've been thinking about what went wrong in our relationship." Courtney explained, "Why everything went down between us."

"I think I know the answer you're looking for." Duncan sighed, "You tried to change to me. I felt like you weren't accepting me for the guy I was."

"I was accepting you for who you were." Courtney placed her hand on his shoulder, "I just wanted you to become someone better. A better person."

"I know that." Duncan assured her, "But I felt that you were getting out of control with that, and the dinner between us that got the media talking about our breakup was the moment when I couldn't take it any longer."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Courtney wanted to know, "Things might have turned out differently if you did."

"I know." Duncan gave her a nod of his head, "But I felt that you wouldn't listen."

"...I see." Courtney slowly nodded her head in response, "I can see now that I made a mistake by trying to change you. I shouldn't have forced it on you, because it happened, without me trying to force it on you. You've changed over this past year, Duncan. You became a better person."

Duncan gave her a small nod of his head in response, "Heard that a lot recently."

"Because it's the truth." Courtney told the juvie, with a smile on her lips, removing her hand from his shoulder.

"...Do you think it would work?" Duncan asked the CIT after a moment of silence between them, "If we gave our relationship another try?"

Courtney smiled after hearing Duncan's question, deciding to give him a straight forward answer. She grabbed his shoulders and pulled him in for a kiss, placing her lips against his. Duncan's eyes widened a bit by Courtney's sudden kiss as he was not excepting it but ultimately slowly melted into it.

After they released each other from the kiss, Courtney asked him "Does that answer your question?"

"Yeah." Duncan smiled, just a second before they shared another kiss.

Bridgette watched it from the lower level, still holding Judith. The surfer smiled at what she was seeing right now as Geoff and DJ approached her from behind. The party animal and the brickhouse looked up at the juvie and the CIT and smiled, the former wrapping his arm around the surfer. They weren't the only ones. Carol watched it as well, and could feel a smile forming on her lips.

* * *

It was time for Andrea and Courtney to leave back the prison and to head back to Woodbury. The lawyer offered Courtney to stay here in the prison along with the rest of their group, but the CIT declined her offer. The Governor was already wary of them because of what happened in the last few days, and Courtney disappearing would just make things worse.

Heather drove Otis' blue truck into the yard and stopped the vehicle in front of Andrea and Courtney who stood with Rick and Duncan. She got out of the vehicle and gave them a nod, "It's ready to go."

"Thanks, Heather." Courtney told her before realizing what she just said, "...Never thought those words will leave my mouth."

Heather smiled and patted her shoulder, "Things change."

She walked away from them and stopped next to Alejandro as Andrea eyed her group, "Take care, all of you."

She opened the doors to the front seat of the blue truck and got herself into it as Courtney walked over to the doors to the passenger seat and opened it, but before she got herself into the car, she looked at Duncan, wanting to say one last to him before she'll leave to Woodbury, "Duncan."

"Yeah?" Duncan asked his girlfriend.

"I'm proud of you." Courtney declared to him.

Duncan smiled at her, "I'll see you when this is all over, princess."

Courtney returned his smile as she got herself into the blue truck, shutting the doors right after taking her seat in the passenger seat as Rick spoke up to them, "Be careful, both of you."

Andrea looked at the sheriff deputy and nodded her head at him, "You too."

The lawyer started up the vehicle again and started driving towards the gate which was opened by Ezekiel and Cody. The homeschool and the geek made sure to lock the gate again as fast as they could while their entire group came over to the fence and watched them leave until their vehicle disappeared in the woods.

* * *

Later that day, when the sun was gone and the moon was shining on the horizon, the group was gathered in the cellblock. Beth sat in front of a few small candles which were a small source of light for her and her group when an idea appeared in her mind.

" _They hung a sign up in our town._ " She started singing as everyone titled their heads towards her, " _If you live it up, you won't live it down._ "

The younger Greene continued to sing as the rest of the group just listened to her song, simply enjoying her singing. She turned backwards and saw Rick coming down the stairs. The sheriff deputy stared at her for a few seconds before something else caught her attention. It was Merle who came out from the other side of the gate. He leaned against the gate and just listened to Beth's singing.

Rick looked away from Merle and walked over to Daryl, Chef, Chris and Hershel, with the younger Dixon telling him, "Some reunion, huh?"

"They're in a jam." Rick stated.

Chris sighed, "We all are."

"This fella's armed to the teeth." Chef stated.

"Bent on destruction." Hershel stated.

"So what do you want to do?" Daryl wanted to know.

"We match it." Rick replied, "I'm going on a run. I'll head out tomorrow."

"I'll go with you." Daryl instantly volunteered.

Rick shook his head, "No, you stay here. Keep an eye on your brother. I'm glad you're back, we all are, really, but if he causes a problem, it's on you."

Daryl gave him an assuring nod, "I got him."

"How about I'll go, then?" Chris offered to go instead of Daryl, "You could use some help out there."

"Alright." Rick nodded his head at the host of Total Drama, before turning to look at Chef, "What about you?"

"I'll go too." Chef nodded his head, "Who else do you have in mind?"

Rick looked at Michonne in response, "Michonne."

"You sure that's a good idea?" Daryl asked him.

"I'll find out." Rick explained, "I'll take Carl too. He's ready."

Chef looked at Hershel and Daryl, "Keep this place safe when we'll be gone."

The redneck and the farmer nodded in response, with the former saying, "Got it, general."

The co-host of Total Drama nodded his head in return and so did Rick, knowing that tommorow he was leaving his people in good hands and knowing that he was heading out with the people he could trust. They all turned their attention towards Beth and listened to her song.

* * *

**Only five more chapters left to go in season 3!**


	31. Clear

Chef stared at the road ahead of him through the front window of the Hyundai. He, Chris, Rick, Carl and Michonne left the prison to go on their supply run a while ago. He turned his gaze away from the window and exchanged a brief glance with Rick who sat in the driver's seat. Michonne, Carl, and Chris sat in the back seats. Chris had his hand into a fist as he placed his chin on it, observing the surroundings they were passing by and Carl between the host of Total Drama and Michonne who was staring ahead, lost in her own thoughts.

"Guys." Chris spoke up from his seat, as he pointed forward, his hand between Rick and Chef who looked in the direction that he was pointing at, "I see someone. I don't think it's a walker."

"...Hey! Hey! Slow down! Slow down!" The man that Chris just pointed at cried out to them, as the Hyundai was getting closer to him. His eyes widened in horror when the Hyundai drove past him, completely ignoring him. He pushed himself into run after it, "I'm begging you! No! Please!"

Carl turned around and glanced at the unknown man through the back window of the Hyundai. The unknown man ran after them for several seconds, before collapsing on his knees, exhausted. He turned his gaze away from the man and turned it towards the front window, doing his best not to think about it.

A few minutes later, his dad started driving a bit slower when a few abandoned cars on the road appeared in the view, not wanting to crash into any of them. None of them were really sure what happened on this road, but a few theories of what could have happen popped into their minds when they looked around their surroundings.

Rick looked down at the steering wheel when the Hyundai stopped out of the sudden. He attempted to drive forward again, but the vehicle remained in the same place.

Chef sighed, "We got stuck in the mud or something like that."

Just a second after those words left his mouth, a few walkers lunged for their car and started slamming their hands against the windows, attempting to break in. Rick glanced around himself, and saw that the Hyundai was surrounded, realizing that that they had to take of these walkers. He turned back and looked at his son, "Cover your ears."

Carl did as he was told to, and so did Michonne and Chris while Rick pulled out his Python and Chef pulled out his handgum. They lowered their windows a bit, giving themselves enough space to kill the undead and pressed their other hands against their ears, before pulling the triggers of their weapons.

It didn't took them for to get rid of the undead. About a minute or two had to pass kill off everyone walker in their view. After getting rid of the undead, they all got themselves out of the car. Rick, Carl, Chris and Michonne started searching through the car, intending to see if they could find anything useful for their group while Chef did his best to free their vehicle from the mud.

It took him a while to do it, or at least it felt like a while to him, but after he did it, he informed everyone about it and they all got themselves back into the Hyundai after. Rick started up the vehicle again, and drove off, completely ignoring the cries of the same man from earlier.

* * *

Everyone got themselves out of the Hyundai when they reached their destination, Rick's and Carl's old town. Chris adjusted his rifle which was over his shoulder and placed his right hand on the cars door, waiting for Carl to leave through it. He shut the doors right after Carl got himself out of the car and all five of them pushed themselves into a walk towards Rick's old police station.

When they entered it, they went straight into the armory, and to nobody's suprise, it was completely empty. Rick sighed and kicked the wall in frustation. He knew that the possibility of the other survivors completely emptying this place out of everything he left in there before setting off to find his family was very likely, but he hoped that there will be something left.

Michonne eyed the empty armory, "You got any other police stations in town?"

"I was the police here. Me and a few other guys. It ain't a big town." Rick began, "There's other places to check. May not have as many guns as were in here, but..."

"We need as many guns as were in here. Ammo, too." Michonne cut him off.

"Yeah, we do." Rick nodded, "But right now, I only got a line on a couple."

Chris leaned against the wall, "What are the other places we can check?"

"There's a few places out on the main stree, bars, a liquor store. Owners had a gun or two behind the counter that people didn't know about. I did. I signed the permits." Rick explained, "They might still be there."

"It's worth a shot, I guess." Chris stated.

Chef walked over to the exit from the armory, "Let's go."

Everyone followed him and walked out of the armory, beginning to head towards one of the places that Rick mentioned. At first, they thought that the town was deserted, but they started having second thoughts about it when they noticed a pile of freshly burnt walkers. They only got the confirmation to their assumpations that someone might have been living in this town when they passed around the corner.

The entire street in front of them and geared up for the undead and the people. Almost everything on that street had a few wooden sharpened rods attached to it. Chef started looking around, just in case if there was someone watching them, with his M16 in ready as he and his group started making their way throught the streets, making sure to pass the sharpened rods.

"What is that?" Michonne muttered to herself, but it was loud enough for everyone to hear.

Rick shook his head, "I don't know."

"Someone who lives here doesn't like visitors." Chef stated, eyeing at the cage with a pigeon trapped inside of it, "Or someone who used to live here. We'll have to find out."

"I'll hope that it's the latter." Chris exclaimed, his hand on his Glock.

"Let's check the places we're planning to check and get the hell out of here." Rick declared. Everyone agreed with him. He pointed his Python at the nearby building, "There. Tyrell's. A shotgun and two handguns. License issued to Tyrell Debbs."

Carl turned around because heard some snarling behind them and saw a single walker heading towards them. He poked his dad's arm, causing him to look down at him. He pointed backwards, as his dad, along with Chris, Chef and Michonne turned around to see the same walker. The dark skinned woman unsheathed her katana and started heading towards it, but was stopped by Chris who grabbed her arm.

"Don't." The host of Total Drama told her, "She'll get caught in one of the traps."

In the same moment, a shot came completely out of nowhere and the bullet hit the walker right in the head, killing it. Everyone quickly glanced in the direction from which the shot came from and spotted a masked man standing on the roof of one of the buildings, "Hands!" Everyone quickly raised their hands in the air, as the unknown man continued, "Now you drop what you got and you go. Your guns, your shoes, and that sword. All of it. 10 seconds."

"Run for the car now." Rick told his son as the unknown man started counting down.

"What are we going to do with him?" Chris asked, even though he already had the answer for this question in his mind.

"We need his rifle." Michonne pointed out, "I think I can get up there."

Chef nodded his head, "We'll give you enough time to get him, soldier."

Rick grabbed his sons shoulder, knowing what was going to happen now, "Carl, go."

He fired his Python at the masked man as the group split up. He, Chris and Chef ran over to the nearest covers and returned fire at the unknown man who continued to fire his machine gun at them, as Michonne crouched down and started sneaking her way to his position to kill him, while Carl ran off somewhere, probably to take cover behind a car.

Rick gritted his teeth as he stopped firing his Python. He started reloading it, hearing how Chef asked, "Where is he?"

The sheriff deputy finished reloading his Pytho after a few seconds and took a quick peek out of his cover and saw that the unknown had disappeared from his position on the roof. He exchanged a look with Chef and Chris who seemed to be as much confused as he was. Their confusion only became bigger when Michonne appeared on the roof and shrugged, telling them that the man was gone without saying any words.

They quickly got their answer when the masked man started firing at them from the street. Rick, Chef and Chris quickly shifted their attention from Michonne to this man and returned fire. The masked man didn't seem to care about it, though. He proceeded to fire his machine rifle at them, approaching them every second as he did so.

He was finally shut down when Carl came out of the cover and fired his pistol at the man's torso, knocking the man that just attacked them down as Michonne came out of the building, with her swords raised and in ready to kill this man. She lowered it and stared at Carl who lowered his pistol and walked over to her, followed by Rick, Chef and Chris.

Rick looked at his son, "You okay?"

Carl nodded, "Yeah."

"I didn't want you to have to do that." Rick told him.

"You'll scold him later, Rick." Chris said, glancing down at the masked man, "Once we'll be done with this guy here."

Chef crouched down and slammed his hand against the man's torso, "Just like I thought. He's wearing body armor. That's why he wasn't afraid to approach all three of us at once." He ripped the man's shirt open and started taking off his bulletproof west, "He's alive."

"Do we care?" Michonne asked him.

Chef shrugged and reached for this man's mask and slowly took it off, revealing a black skinned man. Rick stared at the now unmasked and with wide eyes, not believing who this attacker turned out to be. It was Morgan. A man that he met right after he woke up from the coma. Morgan was the person that told him about everything that happened when he was in the coma. He told him how much the world has changed.

"...Yeah." He answered to Michonne's earlier question, "We do."

Chris turned at the leader of his group, "You know this guy, Rick?"

"His name is Morgan." Rick explained with a bittersweet sigh, "I've met him right after I woke up from the coma. He told me about everything that happened when I was sleeping. We parted ways when I went out looking for Lori and Carl. He decided to stay in this town."

"What are we going to do with him?" Chris asked Rick another question.

"Bring him to this building." Rick replied, beginning to make his way to the entrance to the building from which Morgan started shooting at them, "I need to talk with him." He stopped in front of the entrance and started eyeing all the traps set around it as Michonne, Carl and Chris approached him. Chef stayed behind to keep an eye on the unconsciouss Morgan, "Keep an eye out for booby traps. Looks like he's gotten pretty creative so far."

"I thought we were just gonna get in and get the hell out of here." Michonne pointed out.

Rick turned to look at her, "I'm not leaving him on the street. He saved my life. He wasn't like this then. Jesus, he has a son."

"You think he's in there?" Michonne asked.

Rick sighed, not knowing how to answer this question. He looked at Chef, "Chef. We're going into the house. We'll let you know when you should bring him in there."

Chef nodded, "Roger that."

Rick took a few steps forward, and was about to step on the doormat, but was stopped when Michonne told him, "Don't. You said booby traps."

The sheriff deputy crouched down and lifted the doormat up, revealing at least a dozen of sharpened objects underneath it. He turned around to the dark skinned woman, "Thank you."

"Let's just get him inside and go." Michonne told him to which Rick nodded.

"You heard her, Chef." Chris called out to his fellow host who nodded before slowly wrapping Morgan's arm around his shoulder, "Watch out for the doormat."

They waited for Chef to approach them with unconsciouss Morgan before stepping further into the house. Rick, Chris and Michonne who were making sure to spot any body trap in the building walked in front as Carl, Chef and Morgan were right behind them. They made their way to the stairs which were leading to the upper floor and started slowly making their way up it.

"Don't." Chris stopped walking up the stairs when Rick called out to him as the host of Total Drama was about to walk through the entrance. He looked down and saw a wire. He send Rick a grateful nod, and stepped over it, not wanting to unlock the whatever trap this wire was connected to. He, Rick and Michonne got the answer to what kind of body trap it was when they were greeted by the view of bloody axe the moment they stepped into the upper floor.

"That was to close." Chris sighed in relief, knowing that the axe was definitely going to kill him if Rick didn't spot the wire in time.

"Carl, Chef, watch out for the wire." Rick called out Carl and Chef who were still making their way up the stairs.

They did as they were told to, and avoided the wire that Rick told them about, joining the others on the upper floor. They walked through it and found themselves in a room that was filled with all kinds of weapons and grenades only a few moment later. Chef stared at the weaponry in front of him in awe.

"I showed him that weapons locker last year." Rick explained.

"And it had all of this in it?" Michonne asked, eyeing all of the weapons around her as Chef walked over to the nearby bunk and placed Morgan on top of it.

Rick shook his head, "No, not even half. He's been busy."

Everyone split up around the room right after. Chef, Michonne, Chris and Carl started packing the weapons and the ammo into their bags as Rick stared at the inscriptions on the wall which were most likely written by Morgan.

There was one word that stood out from the most.

It was **Clear**.

The sheriff deputy shook his head and came over to the crate with weapons in front of him. He picked one machine gun up and checked if it's magazine had any bullets in it before something else caught his attention. It was a walkie-talkie. The same one he had given Morgan and his son the last time when he saw them. He picked the walkie-talkie up and sighed, pressing it against his forehead, regretting he didn't keep with the contact in Morgan just like he promised.

"Duane?" Chris read what was written on the wall, taking Rick away from his thoughts. The sheriff deputy looked up and saw a large inscription which said " **Duane Turned** ", "Is that his son's name?"

The look that Rick gave him was enough for Chris to get the answer he wanted. He was silent for a few more seconds before speaking up, "No. We're gonna wait for him to wake up. Make sure he's okay."

"He tried to kill us." Michonne pointed out as everyone stopped packing Morgan's weapons into their bags.

"He told us to go. He didn't know who we were." Rick pointed out in return.

"Rick, we need his weapons if we want to go against the Governor." Chef stated, "You're going to try to convice him to share with us, because to be honest, I'm not really sure if he is going to be willing to negotiate."

"Yes. I will talk with him." Rick nodded in confirmation, "I know you don't trust him and I can't blame you for that, but you trust me. I know him. He wasn't like this then. We're gonna wait for him to wake up."

He came over to the pile of stuff and picked up a few tights that were laying there. He made his way to Morgan and started tying it around his wrists, to make sure that Morgan wasn't going to attack him the moment he'll wake up from his slumber as something caught's Carl's attention on the wall in the other room. It was a handrawn map of the entire town.

"Carl." Rick called out to his son when he noticed him staring at something, "What do you see?"

"It's our neighborhood." Carl answered, staring at one spot on the map, "It's gone."

"Is that why you wanted to come? To see the house?" Rick wanted to know. When his son remained silent, he called out for him,"Carl."

Carl shook his head, "...I just wanted to come."

Rick turned his gaze away from his son and looked at Michonne who sat down on the chair and started eating a protein bar that she found somewhere among supplies, "We're eating his food now?"

Michonne shrugged, "The mat said "Welcome.""

"Rick." Chef who was leaning against the wall called out to Rick who looked at him, "Tell me where are the placed you wanted to check. I and pretty boy will check them out."

"The rest of you can stay here and watch out for this Morgan." Chris added, "It'll will save us a lot of time if we'll come."

"I'll go with you." Carl volunteered, earning his dad's attention, coming into the room again, "I thought maybe the one thing people didn't loot was cribs and there's that baby place that Mom's friend Sara ran. It's just around the corner."

Rick turned to Chef and Chris again, "Watch out for him."

Chef nodded, "We will."

"I'll go too." Michonne spoke up, "If you're gonna get a crib, you have to get the box. It's big and heavy. You're gonna need help carrying the box."

"Right there, that's the deal." Rick nodded his head, knowing that it would be better if he was left all alone with Morgan. After all, he was the only one from his group that knew him.

* * *

It's been a while since Chef, Chris, Michonne and Carl left him all alone with Morgan. Rick let out a sigh, sitting down on the chair in front of his old friends bed, waiting for him to wake up from his slumber, "...I'm sorry this happened to you."

He stood up from the chair and walked a bit away from the bed, staring at the writings on the wall. His gaze went a bit lower and his eyes spotted a familiar rifle. He picked it up and eyed it, assuring himself that it was the same rifle that he had given Morgan when they were in the armory, right before he left to search for his family.

It was when he heard someone charge towards him. He turned around to see Morgan charging towards him with a knife. He punched him with the back of the rifle, knocking him down to the floor, "Do you know who I am? Do you see who I am?"

"People wearing dead people's faces!" Morgan responded, not recognzing the man in front of him.

"Morgan, listen to me..." Rick tried to reason with him.

"I don't know you!" Morgan snapped.

"You do know me!" Rick attempted to convice him.

"No! I don't!" Morgan shouted, as he jumped back on his feet and charged at Rick who dropped the rifle on the floor. He grabbed Rick who held the knife back, preventing Morgan from stabbing him. Rick slammed him against the wall, pressing him against it, hoping it will stop Morgan from attacking him for enough amount of time to remember him.

"You saved my life, Morgan!" Rick yelled out, "You know me. Look at me."

Morgan headbutted him, sending Rick to the floor. Morgan quickly used the opportunity and got himself on top of him, "You don't clear, man. You turn. You just die!"

"You know me!" Rick repeated himself, holding Morgan's hand, preventing him from stabbing him.

"I don't know anyone anymore!" Morgan declared, pressing more pressure on his knife, "You don't clear!"

He stabbed Rick in the shoulder, causing the sheriff deputy to let out a scream of pain. He grabbed Morgan by his shoulder and headbutted him. Morgan fell off of him and collapsed on the floor. Rick got himself back on his feet, pulling out his Python as Morgan crawled over to the wall and leaned himself against it.

"You know me. You crazy son of a bitch!" Rick yelled out to him, now aiming his Python right at Morgan's forehead.

"Please." Morgan pleaded, as he grabbed Rick's hands and placed the barrel of his Python right against his forehead, beginning to cry, "Please kill me. Just kill me. Just kill me..."

Rick lowered his Python, bringing his weapon away from Morgan who bursted into tears, repeating the same words over and over again. Rick walked over to the place where he left the tights and used them to tie Morgan up again. His old friend didn't struggle at all. Rick knew he had to find a way to make him remember who he was, but at first he need to take care of the fresh stab wound on his shoulder.

"...You found me last year in my front yard, Morgan." Rick began once he was done with patching up his wound, starting to put his shirt back on, "You and ... you found me. You fed me. You told me what's happening. You saved me. My name is Rick Grimes. You know me. I'm not wearing a dead man's face."

It was when an idea appeared in his picked up the walkie-talkie, hoping that it was going to help Morgan remember him and walked over to his old friend, crouching down in front of him, "I gave you this. I said I'd turn it on every day at dawn so you could find me."

Morgan looked at the walkie-talkie before slowly turning his gaze towards Rick, his eyes filling with disbelief, "Rick? I know you. Oh, man. Damn it, I ... I know you. I know who you are. You said you'd turn yours on at dawn. That's what you said. I mean, I hadn't worked up to it yet, and ... then I did. On the roof, every morning for days, for weeks, me and my boy. And then... me. Just static, though. Nothing but static. And then nothing but nothing. You weren't there. You were never there."

"I was." Rick told Morgan, but he ignored his words.

"No, not when I tried. I mean, you said you would turn on your radio every day at dawn." Morgan pointed out, his more becoming more shaky and loud with each words that left his mouth. It seemed like he was trying to stop himself from bursting into tears.

"Morgan, I..." Rick tried to say but Morgan continued.

"You said that you would turn on your radio, **every day at dawn and you were not there!** " Morgan snapped. **  
**

Rick sighed, standing up, "...I kept getting ... I kept getting pushed farther out. I had to. I didn't have a choice. I found my wife and my boy. I had people. I had to keep them safe. We kept getting pushed back deeper into the country. I swear to God I didn't have a choice."

Morgan kicked the walkie-talkie away from him and glared at Rick, "You can have your radio back 'cause it looks like I finally found you. You found your wife and your son. That's what happened, right? You found them." He paused for a second when he spotted how Rick's expression changed when he mentioned his family, "And did they ... Did she ... did your wife ... did she turn?"

Rick shook his head, "No, she died."

"So you didn't have to see that, then." Morgan stated with a dry laugh, "Of course not. Not like me. No. Not like me. Not like my wife. You remember what happened to her? You remember what she was?"

Rick gave him a saddened nod of confirmation in response, "...Yeah."

Morgan set his eyes on the rifle which was laying on the floor, as the realization appeared on his mind, "Oh. You gave me the gun. You tried."

"What did I try, Morgan?" Rick wanted to know, "What did I try?"

"You tried to get me to do it 'cause I was supposed to do it." Morgan let out another dry laugh, "I was supposed to kill her, my Jenny. Knew I was supposed to, but I let it go. Let it go like there wasn't gonna be a reckoning. We was always looking for food. You know, it always came down to food. And I was ... I was checking out a cellar and I didn't want Duane to come down there with me. And then when I came up. She was standing there right in front of him and he had his gun up and he couldn't do it. So I called to him and he turned. And then she was just ... just on him. And I see red. I see red. Everything is red. Everything I see is red. And I do it. Finally. Finally was too late. I was supposed to. I was selfish. I was weak. You gave me the gun."

His gaze went down to the floor only to return to Rick as he asked him, "Hey, your boy ... is he dead?"

Rick shook his head, "No."

"No? He will be." Morgan stated, his voice emotionless, "See, 'cause people like you, the good people, they always die. And the bad people do, too. But the weak people, the people like me... we have inherited the Earth."

* * *

Carl wiped off a bit dirt which was covering the window of the case and glanced through it. He reached for the handle of the doors and was about open to open it, but was stopped when a familiar voice rang through his ears.

"Carl?" Chef called out to him, "What are you doing?"

He turned around to see Chef, Chris and Michonne. He shook his head, "Nothing."

"Don't fool us, Carl." Chris shook his head and crossed his arms, "We let you our of sight for a minute."

"You thought we were going to let you go in there?" Michonne asked

"I just think it's none of your business." Carl pointed out.

"I think my busines is to protect you, kid." Chef pointed out in return, in a stern tone, "We've been in the same group since the beginning. We promised your dad to look after your while being out here..."

Carl pointed at Michonne, cutting the co-host of Total Drama off, "What about her, then? She doesn't know me. She doesn't know my dad. She doesn't know you or Chris. She came out here for common interests. We have the same enemy and the same problem. And that's why you're here. That's it."

"Carl." Chris sighed, "Why do you want to check this place?"

"It's important to me. It's the only one I have left of her." Carl explained, doing his best to make his tone sound firmly, but ultimately coming off as more of a pleading one, "I'm going to do this. And I know how I can. You can't stop me."

"...We'll help you." Chef exclaimed after a moment, realizing that this something must have been really important to Carl after hearing the tone of his voice, "But on one condition."

"What condition?" Carl wanted to know.

* * *

Rick stared through the window in Morgan's home, trying to spot his son, Chef, Chris and Michonne, but they were nowhere to be seen. He turned his gaze away from the window and turned it towards Morgan who was still tied up to a crate.

"I'm not going to kill you." He began, coming over to Morgan and cutting off the tights keeping his old friend tied up to a crate, "I don't think that's what's supposed to happen. I think you're supposed to come back with us."

Morgan laughed at the suggestion, "After all that? After me trying to blow your head off, stab your heart out, happily ever after together?"

"You couldn't kill me, I couldn't kill you. I'll take that as a sign." Rick stated, "We found a prison. The fences can keep 'em out."

"Is this where your wife died?" Morgan wanted to know. Rick's expression twisted a bit and this answer was enough for him, "Just go. Don't go back. Don't stop. Just get yourself some more time."

"Look, I can help you." Rick offered, as he crouched down in front of Morgan, "You can come back with us. You can heal."

"You're taking a lot of guns, Rick." Morgan pointed out, "No, I'm just saying that that all is a lot of guns. Why do you need the guns, Rick? 'Cause if you got something good, that just means that there's someone who wants to take it. And that is what is happening, right?"

"We're gonna win." Rick stated, firmly.

Morgan shook his head and laughed at his words, "You will be torn apart by teeth or bullets. You and your boy. Your people, but not me. Because I am not gonna watch that happen again." He stood up from his sitting position, turning away from Rick, "Man, you take the guns."

"You know there's a chance." Rick stated, "That's what you can't square. That's what hurts. You know there's a chance!"

"I don't think you heard a damn word that I said!" Morgan shouted.

"We both started out in the same place." Rick began, approaching his old friend, "Things went bad for you, things went bad for me. But you're not seeing things right. I don't blame you, what you've lost, what you've been through. You're not seeing things right, but you can come back from this, I know you can. You have to. This can't be it. It can't be. You got to be able to come back from this."

Morgan looked right into his eyes and let out a quiet, "No."

"Morgan, please." Rick pleaded him.

"No." Morgan shook his head, "I have to clear. That's why I didn't die today. That's the sign. I have to, man. I have to. I have to clear."

* * *

Carl wondered how he agreed on these terms in the first place as Chef, Chris and Michonne entered the cafe through the main entrance. Chef, Chris and Michonne were going to help him retrieve what he wanted from the cafe, but on the condition that he'll stay outside.

Michonne had her katana raised in ready as Chris slowly locked the doors behind her and Chef. The undead were awakenen by their presence in the cafe, but didn't attack them. Their entire attention was instantly focused on the rats which were locked in the cages which were placed presumably by Morgan all over the cafe. They all exchanged a look with each other and quickly hurried over to the other side of the cafe, hoping to find the thing that Carl wanted them to bring.

Carl sighed as he stared up at the sky, leaning against the doors of the cage. It's been a few minutes since Chef, Chris and Michonne entered the cafe to look for something he wanted to take from this place and they still were nowhere to be seen. He turned around and looked through the glass, attempting to spot them in the cafe, but the only movement he could spot was the one of the walkers.

"Hey." Michonne's voice rang through his ears. He turned to the source of it and saw her, Chef and Chris approaching him.

"Where were you?" Carl asked them.

"We used to the back exit to get outta of here." Chris explained as he held out something to Carl. It was a picture of him, Rick and Lori in the happier times, before the world became what it is today. The entire Grimes family was smilling widely.

"Is this the thing you wanted?" Chef asked him as Carl took the picture from Chris and stared at it, "We figured out it was the one the moment I spotted it."

Carl looked up from the picture and smiled at them, giving each one of them a grateful look, "I just ... I just thought Judith should ... should know what her mom looked like. Thank you. All of you."

Chef smiled and patted his shoulder, "You don't need to thank us, Carl. We're in the same group. We need to look after each other."

"We'd get back a little sooner if Michonne here didn't want to check something." Chris explained, turning to look at the dark skinned woman.

Michonne pulled out a multi colored cat statue, showing it off to them, "I just couldn't leave this behind. It's just too damn gorgeous." It wasn't the only thing that the dark skinned woman brought with herself. The next thing she pulled out was meat cleaver. She held it out to Chef, "I saw it and I figured out that you could use it. After all, I've seen what kinds of food you can cook."

Chris exchanged a look with Chef, "You watched us?"

"Not that much. I've seen only a few episodes." Michonne answered, "But my boyfriend was a big fan of yours."

Chef grinned and took the meat cleaver from her, "Thanks."

* * *

Rick clenched his teeth as he walked out of Morgan's home, with a few bags which were filled with all kinds of guns and ammo which his group was going to need just in case if the Governor attacked them again. He started making his way towards the Hyundai, intending to place all of the bags in the trunk when he saw Carl, Michonne, Chris and Chef walking towards him, the latter two holding a baby crib for Judith.

"Hey." He spoke up to them, "I was just about to look for you."

"Sorry." Carl apologized.

"It took us a bit longer than we excepted." Chris added.

Chef gestured towards Rick's wound on his shoulder, "What happened?"

"It's nothing." Rick shrugged it off as he held one bag out to Michonne who grabbed it and slouched it over her shoulder, "Thank you."

They started making their way to their vehicle and spotted Morgan who was busy preparing another stack of bodies of the undead which were killed by his traps, intending to burn them like he had done before with the other bodies.

Michonne looked at him, "Is he okay?"

"No." Rick answered, walking past Morgan with his group.

"Wait." Carl stopped walking for a second and looked at Morgan, "Hey, Morgan."

Morgan looked up from the stack of bodies and looked at Carl, giving him an expression which said, " _Yes?_ "

"I had to shoot you. You know I had to, right?" Carl asked to which Morgan nodded, "I'm sorry."

"Hey, son." Morgan called out to Carl after a moment, "Don't ever be sorry."

He turned his attention back to his work, as Rick, Michonne, Chris, Chef and Carl made their way to their Hyundai and started packing everything they found in this town into the trunk. When they packed everything they had with them, Michonne walked away to get more bags which they placed against a wall of the nearby building.

Rick made sure that Michonne was in a safe distance, before asking his son and his friends, "Everything okay with her?"

Chris nodded in confirmation, "Yes."

"I think she might be one of us." Carl nodded in agreement.

"Everything went okay with her." Chef explained, "I think we can trust her."

Rick smiled and nodded, "Hop in, Carl. We'll throw this in the back."

Carl nodded and got himself into the Hyundai, shorty after, taking his seat in the back as Michonne walked back to the vehicle, with the last two bags slouched over her shoulders, her gaze set on Rick, "You see something? I know you see things. People. I used to talk to my dead boyfriend. It happens."

Rick remained silent and just gave her as quick in response. They packed everything in trunk before getting themselves into the Hyundai. Chef who volunteered to be the one to drive this time started up the the vehicle and started driving in the direction of the prison.

They stopped driving for a few moments when they spotted the backpack of the same man that they left behind on the road earlier that day, with his lifeless body laying next to it. Chris opened the doors to his seat, and picked the backpack up, before placing it on his knees. He closed the doors and gave Chef a nod, telling him to drive again.

Chef nodded in response and started driving towards the prison again, hoping to get back to their home before the dark.

* * *

**Have you guys heard the news? Total Drama is coming back! I'm really happy with this news and I will definitely watch the new two seasons once they'll come out.**


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